Closer To The Edge: Into Oblivion
by gioia99
Summary: The Ark's most dangerous prisoner ever, Aerrow Eroxin, is on the ground. Having barely survived the battle with the grounders, he now faces an even bigger challenge: surviving himself after everything he loved was taken from him. Can he keep living, or will he drown in his suffering? furthermore, can he ever find happiness? eventual Aerrow/Clarke. reviews appreciated
1. Chapter 1

**AERROW IS BACK! At the end of 'Closer to the Edge' I said I was wanting to do a sequel, and here it is! If you have not read 'Closer to the Edge' you do not have to, but I recommend you do, as it is the beginning of the story of my OC character, Aerrow Eroxin, and his journey through life on the ground and it lays the foundation for this story. Rest assured, I intend this to be better than 'Closer to the Edge". It will be harder, faster and darker, but hopefully better.**

**I have tried to learn from the mistakes I made in 'Closer to the Edge' and have tried to make Aerrow more realistic in this story, while still maintaining his abilities. He is very changed from the events in 'Closer' and his emotional journey will be the main focus of this story. The story picks up with the beginning of season 2 and, as with 'Closer' this story will remain as close as possible to the actual storyline.**

**In addition, there will be much less OC/OC than there was in 'Closer' and the story, while not straight away, will largely focus on Aerrow/Clarke (or Claerrow, if you want to call it that), because Clarke in season 2 is amazing!**

**One more thing: new chapters will be pretty scattered as I'm taking more time to figure out how to integrate Aerrow into the complex storyline of season 2.**

**Anyway, hope you guys like it. I'm definetly going to have a blast writing this one **

**(note: I do not own the 100. Only part of this story I own are the OC characters. Also, verse at the beginning of this chapter is taken from the song 'sudden life' by Rise Against)**

**THE 49 + 1: INTO OBLIVION**

_FLOATING IN THE CLOUDS_

_GIVING UP THE FIGHT_

_A VOICE IS CALLING OUT_

_I'M WALKING INTO THE LIGHT_

In the low light of sunset, a young girl ran across the horizon.

Trees and branches whipped past her, leaving cuts and scratches on her already bloody face and turning her usually straight blonde hair into a tangled mess as she ran desperately through the forest, fleeing the terrible scenes of the massacre behind her.

Suddenly, she stumbled on a loose rock and fell to the ground.

Pain shot up her right leg, originating at her ankle. She stifled a scream and through gritted teeth, got back on her feet and kept running.

As she ran, images flooded through her terrified mind, reminding her of what she was trying to escape.

_The arrows… _

_The gunshots…_

_The delinquents… _

_The grounders…_

_The battle…_

_The murder…_

She would never forget the horrific brutality she witnessed as her people were slaughtered in cold blood, the images of her friends being stabbed, shot or beheaded permanently engraved into her mind.

She was a member of 100 juvenile prisoners sent down to the ground from a gigantic orbital space station known only as 'The Ark'. The Ark had sustained what was left of the human race ever since a nuclear war 97 years ago had poisoned the earth with radiation and rendered their former home unable to sustain life. She and her comrades had been sent to the ground to die, in order to determine if the ground had recovered and was survivable or not, but what ensued was far worse than she or any of the others had ever imagined

At first, the ground seemed like a paradise, with unlimited resources, endless beauty and, most importantly, no rules.

But things had quickly gone downhill

Soon after landing, it became apparent that the 100 were not the only humans on the ground. There were survivors, grounders, as they came to be called.

Despite the efforts of her leaders - the smart, caring and beautiful Clarke Griffin, and the impetulant but brilliant Bellamy Blake – to establish peaceful co-habitation with the grounders, the relations between the two sides seemed destined to descend into war.

She remembered vividly the night of the final terrible battle between the 100 and the grounders. She remembered crouching, terrified, with an M4 rifle in her hands, taking aim and firing at the grounders, as other members of the 100 did exactly the same thing.

The grounders returned fire with spears and arrows, and the losses sustained to both sides were large and their deaths horrific.

It was only the actions of the heroic but damaged warrior Aerrow Eroxin and his prodigy (and, some said, lover), Sara, that prevented the total annihilation of the 100.

The two warriors had sacrificed their own lives and held off the grounder army long enough for Jasper to set the rockets of their landing craft (the drop ship as they called it) to fire and for Clarke to get the rest of their people inside it, before shutting the door, trapping the grounders outside, and roasting them alive.

The girl had been too slow.

Trapped in the far corner of the battlefield, she had been unable to make it to the drop ship in time.

Faced with certain death by either the grounders or by incineration, she fled into the forest, and had not stopped running in the two long days that had passed since that fateful night.

The sun was now below the horizon and she found herself being enveloped by darkness as she continued her aimless trek.

She was not a born survivor. On the Ark, she had been born into an upperclass family and had never had to work hard to make a living. When she reached her mid-teens however, she started hanging out with the wrong people and was eventually arrested for the possession of illegal drugs. Normally, criminals were executed, or 'floated' due to the stringent population laws on the Ark, but the same law stated that she was to be kept alive because she was only 17, and any criminal under the age of 18 was to be kept in the prison (the delinquents called it the skybox) until they turned 18, when their crimes were to be reviewed.

Her past seemed so far away as she stared wide eyed into the night. She had loved being on the ground, loved the freedom of it, but that had long been forgotten, and the happiness had been replaced by fear. Right here, right now, alone, cold and bleeding, there was nowhere she wanted to be less.

She heard the howl of a wolf in the distance, and she shivered in terror.

Out of the gloom, she spotted a dim orange glow off to her right.

She went over to investigate, and she found a small circular opening in the ground, out of which came the dim orange hue and the crackling sound of a fire.

Her desperation to escape overriding her better judgement, she did not stop to think of what could already be in the cave and she hurriedly slipped through the opening and shimmied her way down a tight tunnel until she found herself standing in what could only be described as the most amazing place she had ever seen.

She was in a giant cave, roughly 50 metres across, and at least two thirds of it was a large shallow pool of the brightest and bluest water she had ever seen. Glow worms lined the roof of the cave, spreading their faint light across its entirety.

But then she looked at the remaining dry section of the cave, and her fear returned.

She saw a small but hot fire burning, with the leg of a wild pig being roasted over it. she licked her lips hungrily. She hadn't eaten in nearly 3 days.

She also saw a series of animal skins and weapons, and, drawn in ochre on the wall behind them, a painting of 3 women. One looked a lot like Clarke. The other two she couldn't recognise, but the detail was incredible. Staring at the artwork, it was then that she realised it. _This was someone's home._

She was engulfed by the desire to turn on her heel and leave immediately, but her hunger kept her where she was. She decided that she would be able to just take the pig leg and leave before whichever grounder who called the cave their home came back.

She quickly strode forward when she heard a low reptilian hiss at her feet, and she froze.

She looked down and saw a large black and white striped lizard, about one and a half metres in length, its tail coiled around itself protectively.

At the sight of the lizard, she allowed herself to relax a little. After all, how could a lizard harm a human?

She reached out to grab the pig leg when she saw the lizard move, its head shooting up into the air, now looking directly at her, suddenly ultra alert.

She wondered why, but then she realised that it wasn't looking at her, _it was looking behind her_. She then heard a dull thud that sounded like a single footstep and her fear became extreme.

She screamed and whirled around to face whoever it was, expecting to see the horrifying facemask of the grounder that would ultimately bring about her gruesome death, but instead she saw something else, _someone else._ Someone familiar.

Standing in front of her was a teenager, about 18 years old. He wasn't overly tall, but he was lean and muscular. He was about 180 centimetres high but only weighed 55 kilograms. He was bare chested, wearing only a pair of boots and some dirty and slightly frayed lightweight brown cargo pants. She instantly saw that his body was adorned with ragged scars and angular black tattoos – identical to those worn by the grounders she had been running from. She had seen his scars before, but they still made her wince. His muscles were illuminated by the flickering fire light. They were not overly massive, but they were toned. Seriously toned. He was pure muscle, no body fat. Despite her terror, she found herself supressing a gasp as she stared at the speed-bumps of his abs.

He had messy long-ish light brown hair with streaks of blond in it, which he wore parted in the middle with the strands hugging the side of his head, reaching just past his ears at the sides and down to the base of his neck at the back. At the front on his right hand side, he had a few strands tightly braided with a yellow feather attached to the end, something he didn't have the last time she had seen him.

His eyes were a mesmerising shade of dark purple and he had an ugly semi-circle of scarred skin running in a ring around the outside his left eye.

In each of his hands he held a shiny silver thin bladed sword, each about 90 centimetres long. The blades looked ultra sharp, even from where she was standing, and were coated in a fresh and grisly slick of red blood.

She recognised who the person was instantly

"Aerrow… is that you?" she said in disbelief and not a small amount of relief.

Standing in front of her was indeed the warrior himself: Aerrow Eroxin

The last time she saw him had been during the battle with the grounders. He had just seen his partner, Sara, killed courtesy of a sword jammed though her chest by Tristan, the grounder's leader and was locked in combat with him. She had assumed he had been killed by the rockets but evidently he hadn't. He had been able to escape and found his way to this cave, which he had obviously made his own. Staring at the painting again, she now recognised a second girl in it. It was Sara.

At the mention of his name, he startled slightly, as if the sound of another humans voice was completely alien to him. He said nothing. He just looked down at the ground briefly before staring directly into her eyes

"yes" he said, his voice rough and barely audible

In that one word, that one instant, all her fears were settled. She immediately rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him, purely for her own security. She had seen how deadly he was, how he had fought off the grounders, and anyone who didn't know him would deserve to fear him and his lethal abilities. But this girl did know him, not well (very few people did), but she had seen how he had stood by and protected the people he loved and defended them with his life. Just being in his presence made her feel safe again.

But he did not hug her back.

In fact. He made no movement at all.

Slowly, the girl released her grip on him and backed away slightly, staring at his face.

It was his expression that completely captured her attention. It was not like she remembered at all. It was dark, rigid, and utterly emotionless. Suddenly, the tone of the atmosphere changed and she began to feel a little less secure.

"Aerrow are you ok?" she asked him, her voice wavering slightly

"who are you?" he asked quietly, but even then, the way he said it made it sound more like a demand than a question

"My name is Emily" she answered quickly, her fear that had built up over the past 3 days very much present in her voice as tears started rolling down her cheeks "I was one of the 100, but I got locked out of the drop ship in the battle with the grounders and fled into the forest. I've been on the run ever since. Oh god, Aerrow, I was so scared, I thought I was going to die"

Aerrow said nothing. He just kept staring at her, almost in confusion.

"but… I'm safe now… right?" she asked him tentatively

Aerrow remained silent. Instead of answering, he closed his eyes and turned away, and stood dead still

He stayed where he was with his back turned to her for several seconds, but to her they felt like hours.

"no" he eventually said, still not facing her "you're not safe"

She saw the swords in his hands waver slightly, ever so slightly.

Because he was still facing away from her, she could not see his eyes. If she could, they would have chilled her to her very core.

They were dark, and twisted with pain, and blazing with utter, utter fury as memories of his time on the ground and his life with the 100, memories he had tried to forget, came rushing back. In fact, his eyes were more than dark, they were simply _sinister_.

"you're never safe" he whispered to himself, before suddenly whipping around to face the innocent young girl once more.

And then he drove the swords into her chest


	2. Chapter 2

**Big apologies for the massive delay uploading this chapter. I've been trying to make up my mind as to where to progress this story, and to be honest I won't publish too many more chapters until this season is over, as the show is so complex and there are so many places I want Aerrow to be in and so many things I want him to do, but obviously he can't be everywhere. Anyway, that is all from me, as always, hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Aerrow Eroxin carried the body of the dead girl over his shoulders to the top of a nearby cliff. It may well have been the same cliff that little girl had jumped off many nights before, but he couldn't remember, or care for that matter.

He didn't care about anything anymore.

His face remained blank and emotionless as he un-slung the girl's body from over his shoulders. Without hesitation, he threw her over the edge of the cliff, never to be seen again.

After her body had fallen out of sight, Aerrow closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stayed at the top of the cliff, just feeling the wind blow though his hair. He tried to feel something, to feel alive! But there was nothing. Just a big, empty hole in his conscious left by the deaths of those he loved. He opened his eyes and stared sadly at the starlit forest spread out in front of him, before eventually he turned away and walked slowly back to his cave.

The same black and white lizard from the cave scurried along by his side, keeping perfect pace with him.

Its name: _Scarafa_

It was an Australian Lace Monitor. Although not native to the Americas, where the 100 had landed, many Lace monitors as well as other species of animals had been kept in zoos before the war. After humanity had all but annihilated itself, these animals had escaped and small breeding populations of Lace Monitors and other animals now resided across the continent.

Aerrow had found this one the day after the battle with the grounders.

_He had been following the tracks leading away from the 100's old camp, which he presumed had been left by the surviving delinquents heading to the ocean to the east. At this point he only had one goal: find Clarke Griffin._

_Since their very first day on the ground, Aerrow had felt some sort of connection to her. Despite their initial differences, they slowly developed feelings for each other and eventually became a couple. However, their differences in personality and lifestyle began tearing their bond apart, and then Sara came into his life. She had wanted to be like him, be a fighter, and he had agreed to train her. Over time though, Aerrow became unable to supress his rising feelings for her and in one fateful night, the two got together. In that moment, Aerrow betrayed Clarke and destroyed his relationship with her._

_Tragically, Sara had been killed, right in front of him no less, in the battle with the grounders and Aerrow was left heartbroken and alone. And not for the first time either._

_Before being sent to the ground, Aerrow had been a member of the guard on the Ark, the youngest ever in fact. He had beaten one of his friends, Dylan Joyce to the position, leaving Dylan with nothing. Dylan then decided to take revenge by kidnapping Aerrow, killing his then girlfriend Arianna as well as his parents, before mutilating Aerrow's body, giving him his scars. Dylan set the whole thing up so that when the guards discovered Aerrow, they blamed him for the act and he was imprisoned and given the savage codename 'switchblade' by the people of the Ark for what he had done. _

_After he had recovered from his injuries, Aerrow was left with but one goal: get revenge on Dylan. So he trained for two years in solitary confinement in all sorts of martial arts and fighting techniques, as well as other skills such as parcour. He turned himself into a human weapon and thought he could never feel any emotion again. But then he met Clarke._

_And so once more with an empty, destroyed heart, Aerrow needed to find her once more. She was all he had left. If he couldn't find her, he may as well have let the grounders kill him._

_Suddenly, the tracks had vanished. Just disappeared into thin air. Aerrow scoured the surrounding area hoping to pick up the trail again. But there was nothing._

_He closed his eyes tightly. He finally realised it. Clarke was gone. And there would be no getting her back this time._

_He was trying to decide if it was even worth carrying on when he heard a scuffle coming from nearby. Aerrow went over to investigate and there he saw the 1.5 metre Lace monitor being attacked by two… things. They vaguely resembled wolves but they were smaller than the wolves of old, they had filthy shaggy black coats of fur and their front teeth were double their usual length, like the Sabre-tooth Cats of prehistory._

_Aerrow wasn't sure why, but he saw Clarke in the Lace Monitor. It was injured, bound to die soon under the wrath of a ruthless, relentless, utterly violent enemy. If he couldn't save Clarke, maybe he could at least save the lizard._

_So he drew his swords (made of superlight but superstrong metal alloy known as coandite) and just as one of the wolves was about to pounce on the helpless lizard, he swung the blade and decapitated the wolf, before instinctively spinning around and impaling the other wolf in its chest. Both animals dropped, dead, leaving only Aerrow and the Lace Monitor._

_Aerrow made an impromptu gauze for its wounds from some leaves and tree sap, and set the lizard free, expecting it to run off or perhaps start eating the flesh of the dead wolves, such was the brutal way of life on the ground._

_So he was amazed then, when the big lizard crawled onto his hand, up his arm and rested itself on his shoulder. He looked at the lizard, to find it staring straight back at him. It cocked its head to one side, as if to say "what are you waiting for?"_

_Aerrow did something he never thought he would do again. He smiled. It was only very small and brief, but the edges of his lips curled upwards at the thought that he had made a friend in this lizard, this Lace Monitor._

_So he carried the lizard with him. Aerrow and the Lace Monitor. Two injured beings trying to survive in an inhospitable and dangerous world. _

_When he saw the Lizard kill a rabbit, by ruthlessly chasing it down and delivering a final, killing bite with its centimetre long, venom laced teeth (Monitor Lizards were venomous), Aerrow bestowed it the name _Scarafa_ (Scar for short). It was a word from an ancient dialect spoken by a Venezuelan tribe Aerrow's ancestors had been a part of (Aerrow was part Venezuelan, his great grandparents had been astronauts on the Venezuelan space station which, along with 11 others, had combined to make the Ark)._

_The name _Scarafa _meant survivor. But in a slightly different pronunciation, it also meant assassin._

Aerrow slowly dropped out of the tunnel and back into the cave, his cave. The cave he had first got together with Sara in.

He looked down at the coandite swords he had left on the ground. They were still coated with blood. Beside them, a puddle of the foul red liquid still remained from the girl _he had murdered_.

Only then did he realise what he had truly done.

_He had killed a member of the 100, one of his people, one of the people he was supposed to protect. And instead he had slaughtered her._

No longer thinking rationally, he dropped to his knees and cried. He felt pathetic. He was an 18 year old man – he had ceased to be a teenager ever since being sent to the ground – and yet here he was crying like a 5 year old.

He no longer knew who he was. Ever since that terrible battle, he had become someone he didn't even recognise anymore.

Through his tears, he stared at the picture he had drawn on the wall. Three girls: Arianna, Clarke and Sara. All three he had once loved with all his heart, and, in one way or another, all three had been taken from him in the most brutal fashion. He would give anything to be able to see them again, to hear their voices, to-

He cut all his thoughts as he realised, _maybe there was a way._

20 minutes later, Aerrow returned to the cave once more, but this time with a handful of nuts. They were Jovi nuts and, as he had found out once before, they contained a chemical that caused strong and vividly real hallucinations.

Without hesitating, he ate all the nuts and then sat down beside the lake of water, and waited.

When the effect came, it came quickly.

First he began to get a headache, then the cave began to spin, slowly at first, but quickly becoming faster and faster. He clutched his head with his hands and screamed as his already fragile mind was taken over by the hallucinogens of the nuts.

As quickly as it began, the cave stopped spinning, and Aerrow found himself still sitting by the side of the lake, alone, with only Scar for company. He closed his eyes sadly. It hadn't worked.

Suddenly though, Aerrow heard footsteps behind him. He whipped his head around and his hands went to his swords, in anticipation of a grounder coming up behind him, but when he laid eyes on the person, it was instantly clear that they weren't a grounder.

It was Clarke.

At first Aerrow did not know what to do. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly

"Clarke?" he whispered

Clarke stood still, staring at him. So still was she that Aerrow wasn't even sure if she was real. She ran her eyes over his scarred body, taking in all that had changed about him. If anything, she seemed slightly amazed that he was even still alive. "Aerrow" she said quietly

That did it. Aerrow scrambled to his feet, rushed over to her and hugged her tightly. Burying his head in her hair, he allowed himself to weep tears of joy at finder her again. That last remaining part of his conscious mind screamed at him that this was wrong, that the Clarke he was holding wasn't real, but he ignored it.

Eventually, he separated himself from her so he could see her face. She was exactly the same as he remembered: wavy blonde hair, emerald green eyes, soft skin. Oh how he had missed her.

"I found you" he whispered

Clarke again said nothing. Instead, she stared past him. At the blood splatter on the floor.

"why?" she asked suddenly"

"what?" he began

"why did you kill her?" she demanded, her eyes blazing, boring a hole right through him.

Aerrow turned around to see once more the blood of the girl spread on the floor

"I-" he stared, turning back to face her "how did you know?"

"I know everything about you" she said, eyes dark. "I know who you are, what you've done. You're a killer"

"Clarke wait" Aerrow said desperately

He reached for her hand but she yanked it away

"get away from me" she shot back at him "You're a monster. I don't ever want to see you again"

And with that she was gone, leaving Aerrow standing, staring, utterly shocked and saddened, at the place she had been standing moments earlier.

The effects of the Jovi nuts wore off quickly and brutally, with such force that Aerrow lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.

Morning broke

Aerrow slowly sat up and ran his hand through his hair, his mind still playing on the events of the previous night.

Why would Clarke, even a hallucination of her, say such a thing to him? Or was it all just his own mind playing tricks on him, torturing him with his own thoughts.

Aerrow rested his gaze on the twin coandite swords propped up against the wall of the cave.

There was no time to dwell on the past.

It was time to go grounder hunting.


	3. Chapter 3

The Rabbit dropped dead instantly, skewered through the head by one of Aerrow's swords.

Aerrow walked up to it and coldly yanked the sword out of the dead animal, leaving the body for Scar to tear to shreds. Without so much as a second thought, he put the sword back in its holster on his back and kept walking.

Rabbits, pigs, grounders. They were all the same to him now. Everything ceased to be a living thing and was now just an object in his mind. An object that needed exterminating.

At one point he tried to remind himself that this wasn't who he was, this wasn't who he should be. But it was what he had been turned into. Ever since that fateful battle with the grounders, he had lost his identity. He had ceased to be Aerrow Eroxin and instead become Switchblade, his nickname from the Ark. He had become an= cold blooded killern. He thought he had felt a similar way up on the Ark, when Arianna was murdered, but he didn't. Though he made a vow to himself to kill her murderer, he had always retained his humanity, and while he may not have thought it then, he rediscovered it on the ground. The grounders though had taken even that from him. And that was why he needed to get revenge. That was why he needed to make them pay with their lives.

After walking for an hour or so, Aerrow found a trail cutting its way through the forest. He crouched down to examine a footprint left in the overturned soil. There was no mistaking the boot-print and light footfall of a grounder.

The trail appeared heavily used and Aerrow guessed it was a major travel route between what he could only assume were communities. He already knew that the grounders had 'units' of soldiers as well as a commander, so he was not overly surprised by this. Hell, if this trail led to the commander's base of operations he would be delighted. Nothing would give him more satisfaction than killing the grounders' commander

With that thought in mind and his swords in his hands, Aerrow set off in the direction the footprints were headed.

About 2 miles later he began to hear voices up ahead so he moved off the trail and into the bushes, creeping ever closer to the voices until their owners came into view

Aerrow had indeed arrived at a grounder village. It was not as large as he had perhaps been expecting, he could only count 30 or so people, and none of them appeared to be warriors, only villagers. Aerrow narrowed his eyes and smiled evilly. This was perfect.

He put his swords in their holsters, jumped up and grabbed a tree branch, before hauling himself up and over it. Scar meanwhile scurried up the trunk with ease, such were the amazing climbing capabilities of monitor lizards.

Using the trees as cover, Aerrow moved quickly and silently through the branches until he was positioned above a clearing in the centre of the village.

Looking down over the village, seeing the amount of elders and children, Aerrow for the first time had second thoughts on what he was about to do, but then he remembered the image of Sara, the brave young girl he agreed to train and gave his heart to in the process, being stabbed through the chest by Tristan, the grounder leader, the tip of his sword exploding out of her front, the blood gushing out of the open wound,_ the feeling of her fingertips gracing his before she fell._

The grounders had done that to her.

He needed to do this to them.

He drew his swords and leapt from the tree in a slow backflip as he fell to the ground. He never landed on it though. Instead, he thrust his swords through the necks of two unfortunate grounders and used their already dead bodies to cushion his fall. He rolled backwards and yanked his swords out of the corpses, coming to a stop in the centre of the village in a crouched position with one knee on the ground and his swords held out either side of him, eyes dark and blazing with fury.

A few women screamed at the sudden brutal appearance of a stranger in their camp, and several other villagers gasped on horror. All eyes lay on the motionless figure in the clearing. They had no idea who he was. He wasn't one of the mountain men or the sky people, for they carried different weapons and bore no tattoos. Despite the identical tattoos, he wasn't a grounder either.

There had though, been hushed whispers amongst the grounder community of a warrior of immense skill who came down with the sky people and sought to kill the grounders. They knew him only by the name _Naja. _It didn't matter who he was though. All they knew was that he had just killed two of their people.

All was still

And then Aerrow attacked

In the blink of an eye he rushed forward and drove one of his swords into the stomach of an old, grey haired man while at the same time slashing the throat of the woman next to him with his other sword.

Now the screams really started. The villagers panicked and began running away, desperately trying to escape their attacker, but after the raids by the mountain men they had fortified their village with a perimeter wall, and with the gate currently closed they had no escape.

Scar watched on from his perch in the tree as Aerrow mercilessly ran forward, slaughtering grounders left right and centre. Men, women, children, he had no prejudices. He just killed them all.

This was observed by another, a 17 year old grounder named Artigas. He was a young face but a gifted warrior. Indeed, the only reason he was not out hunting with the others was because of his age. He watched on in fury as this invader slaughtered his people. He wanted nothing more than to draw his sword and kill the murderer in the most painful way possible, but he was being held back by the village healer, Nyko, a thickly built man with long hair and a massive beard. As much as it pained Nyko to see the people, innocent people, of his village killed so brutally, with no warriors there was little chance of stopping an assassin as skilled as this one, so the priority was escape.

Artigas continued to struggle against Nyko's grip as Aerrow continued his killing spree. With a full force horizontal swing of his sword, he completely decapitated a woman who had been attempting to guard a hut. As the headless corpse dropped to the ground, he kicked the door of the hut in to find about a dozen children, none of them older than 10, huddled up, terrified, in the far corner. His swords by his sides in anticipation, Aerrow strode forwards, his eyes black and gleaming with evil intent.

This was too much for Artigas to bear, the thought of those children being butchered by this monster, so he elbowed Nyko in the ribs, breaking his grip, before grabbing his own metre long sword and sprinting across the clearing to take Aerrow down once and for all.

Aerrow had his back turned and never saw Artigas coming. He ran through the entrance and, just as Aerrow was about to kill the first child, with a cry of rage Artigas swung his sword at Aerrow's back with all his strength.

Clang!

Artigas's sword never entered Aerrow's body

Instead, it met the coandite metal of Aerrow's downpointed sword

Artigas stared wide eyed. Somehow Aerrow had sensed him coming and moved the sword behind him to block Artigas's strike, one handed. The swords were locked together in a stalemate, the muscles bulging out of Aerrow's arm as he held Artigas's blade back. He was still facing the other way.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Aerrow turned his head around to face Artigas. His facial features seemed set in stone and his eyes… if they were dark before, now they were positively black.

With incredible strength, Aerrow slowly rotated the blade of his sword around so it now faced upward, with Artigas's sword horizontal.

He said nothing

Artigas was just as fearless as the next grounder warrior, but even he was slightly chilled by Aerrow's utterly evil expression.

In the blink of an eye, Aerrow kicked Artigas in his midriff. Hard.

The blow forced Artigas backwards out of the hut. Aerrow followed him out and the two engaged in a brutal swordfight to the death.

The fight was brief and brutal

Ordinarily, the two would have been closely matched, but the burning rage inside Aerrow gave him extra strength, and with each swing of his sword he forced his opponent backwards a little bit more

The two carried their fight into the muddy clearing ,and there they stayed in a dynamic dance with death, swinging their swords with every bit of strength they had.

Aerrow sacrificed one of his swords for more power, letting the other one fall to the ground.

Artigas aimed a strike at Aerrow's head, but Aerrow parried it away and launched himself into the air, spinning around and landing a brutal side-kick to Artigas's head, and the warrior-to-be fell to the ground.

Artigas got back on his feet and glared at Aerrow, who was casually standing in front of him, daring him to keep fighting. Artigas suddenly realised that, skilled as he was, _he wasn't going to beat Aerrow_. His opponent was just too fast, too strong, too good

But still Artigas fought on, clinging on to the hope that he could ensure his people escaped, and that he at least fought with honour, unlike his bloodthirsty opponent.

As his anger escalated, Aerrow over-extended with one swing and Artigas punished him by grabbing his arm and throwing him to the ground

Artigas wasted no time in bringing his sword down to kill him, but Aerrow rolled backwards over himself and stood up again, just in time to block another strike from Artigas.

The two stood with their swords locked together, faces only inches apart. Rage was flowing in both their features, directed at their opponent.

Artigas spat something derisive in his native tongue at Aerrow, who said nothing. In fact, he was completely still, save for the slight shaking in his left arm at the effort of blocking Artigas's blade with only one hand.

It meant that Artigas was completely focussed on his face, and not what he was doing with his other hand.

Suddenly, Artigas gasped in pain and fell backwards before landing on the ground, dead. Sticking out of his chest was Aerrow's other sword, which he had retrieved when he had been thrown to the ground and had then kept hidden from Artigas's sight.

"NO!" Nyko screamed as he watched the young warrior die, but it was too late. Artigas was dead and now he needed to leave before he himself was killed. Artigas's deathly duel had at least brought the villagers enough time to open the gate and flee into the forest.

Standing tall in the middle of the clearing, a sea of blood and dead bodies around him, Aerrow coldly watched them go. He did not care to go after them. He had done enough damage for one day, so he stored his still bloody swords in his holsters once more, called Scar down from the tree, and began walking back to his cave

He stopped at a pool of water to wash the blood off of his bare chest and out of his pants. Even his hair was slick with the stuff. The images of the bloodbath at the village replayed themselves over and over in his head. He had no regrets. The grounders had deserved it. And they were only the first of many, if that was what it took to get revenge for Sara's death and maybe, just maybe, find Clarke again.

Suddenly, he heard a shout nearby, only a few hundred metres away from him. It wouldn't do any harm to kill one more grounder that day, so he began walking over to investigate.

He and Scar took cover in some bushes before looking out so see who the shouts were coming from. What he saw took him completely by surprise.

There, in a clearing in the woods, being beaten and bashed by a grounder, was Bellamy Blake.

The last time Aerrow had seen Bellamy, he had been making a run from the drop ship, but hadn't made it in time and along with Finn was locked in a fist fight with a grounder. He had obviously escaped as well but things weren't looking good for him at the moment

Aerrow kept watching, not acting just yet, as the grounder subdued Bellamy, tied his hands together, and attached other end of the rope to the saddle of his horse.

He walked back over to Bellamy and said coldly "you're lucky. I need to keep you alive to talk to the commander"

Aerrow froze

He recognised that voice

But… there was no way that was possible…

The grounder turned away to get onto his horse and in that instant, Aerrow glimpsed his face, and his mouth dropped open in shock and horror.

It was Tristan, the grounder leader.

Aerrow thought he had killed him courtesy of a gruesome acid grenade, but somehow Tristan had survived it, but only just. The skin on the right side of his head was severely melted, no doubt by the acid. The only explanation Aerrow could think of was that the heat and shockwave from the rockets firing had blasted the acid off of him, and he too had escaped a fiery death.

Suddenly, two more members of the 100, who he recognised as Monroe and Sterling, came rushing out of the bushes on the other side of the clearing, weapons in hand, obviously trying to rescue Bellamy.

Tristan drew his sword and snarled, waiting for them to attack him.

Aerrow needed to act fast. He felt the anger burn up inside of him once more at seeing Tristan. The son of a bitch just wouldn't die. He had killed Sara, he had driven the sword through her chest, and had taken her life far too early than it was supposed to be taken. This time, he was going to make sure he stayed dead.

He burst forth from his cover, taking Tristan by surprise. Before the grounder could do anything Aerrow threw one of his swords, spear like, into Tristan's shoulder. Tristan recoiled back from the strike before Aerrow barrelled into him, lifting him off his feet and driving him into the ground. Aerrow sat on to of Tristan, pummelling his face with punch after punch before Tristan kicked him clear.

Somehow, Tristan still had the strength left to stand up, but he was too drained of energy to provide a strong enough defense and Aerrow eventually got the better of him. He slashed Tristan's arm before stabbing his gut. Tristan wheezed and fell forward into Aerrow as his strength started leaving him.

Aerrow swung the defeated grounder around to se was behind him

"this is for Sara" he hissed before he plunged his sword into Tristan's back and out through his chest, exactly as Tristan had done to Sara.

Aerrow let Tristan fall to the ground before retrieving his swords and untying Bellamy.

"Aerrow" Bellamy said, breathing heavily "I thought you were dead"

Aerrow said nothing. He walked over to retrieve Scar from the bushes

"where you been?" Bellamy called out "Hey!"

Aerrow stood still, before turning back to face Bellamy. He had no idea what to say. Bellamy genuinely wanted to know what had happened to Aerrow after the rockets went off but Aerrow was not inclined to share them. Not with Bellamy at least

Scar scurried out of the bushes and crawled up Aerrow's leg before taking his usual spot with his head rested on Aerrow's shoulder.

Bellamy was about to comment on the Lizard when suddenly another grounder came leaping from the bushes, sword in hand. Both Aerrow and Bellamy had no time to react and were defenceless.

Just as the grounder was about to slash both their throats though, a booming gunshot echoed through the trees and the grounder's chest exploded. A second shot rang out a moment later and this time left a massive hole in the grounder's head.

The 4 members of the 100 turned to face where the gunshots had come from, expecting to see the rest of the group. Aerrow felt the smallest amount of hope rise up in him at the possibility of seeing Clarke again.

He heard footsteps approaching but instead of Clarke and the others emerging from the bushes, marching into the clearing with an assault rifle held in front of him, flanked by guards, came none other than Marcus Cane, along with Abby Griffin and numerous other people from the Ark.

Aerrow and Bellamy took a step back in surprise. The night of the battle they had seen the Ark come down to the ground, but they had assumed there were no survivors. They were obviously wrong.

Cane paused when he saw Aerrow and his scars and tattoos. He trained his rifle on the teenager but Abby put her hand on the barrel and pushed it down. She recognised who he was. She was one of the few people who knew what truly happened to him on the Ark.

"We're here now" Cane said, staring at them "everything's going to be ok"

**Noo not Artigas! I loved writing this scene and hated it at the same time. I loved Artigas's character in the show and everything he stands for, so I really liked putting he and Aerrow together in a duel, because although their abilities are the same, their motives are very different. I kind of modified the timeline and setting of the show in this chapter because I needed to showcase how brutal Aerrow has become.**

**Also, after much deliberation I have decided that Finn will NOT feature in this story, as he and Aerrow are too similar in mindset in season 2, plus he wasn't really relevant in my s1 story either, so I thought it would be ok to take scenes and characters relevant to Finn's storyline in S2, and put them in Aerrow's storyline instead.**

**Anyway, I don't expect many of you to have enjoyed this chapter but that is the worst it'll be (probably). Please let me know what you think and what I can improve on, as well as what you want to see from this story in future chapters. It really does mean a lot to me as a novice writer**


	4. Chapter 4

As the rest of the Ark survivors walked into the clearing, Kane went over to where the two dead grounders lay so he could examine the corpses. He rolled Tristan's body over and saw the gaping hole left his chest by Aerrow's sword.

"You did this?" he inquired, staring up at Aerrow. The teenager held his fierce gaze, and nodded slightly at Kane. After his experiences on the Ark, he found it very difficult to interact with any of its members, let alone trust them.

Kane stared at Aerrow, eying him up and down. He took in the young mans toned physique, his ragged scars and his fearsome angular tattoos, as well as his just plain angry facial expression. Kane knew about his actions on the Ark, how he had kidnapped, tortured and murdered his girlfriend, his parents and three guards, before turning his blade on himself (of course, this wasn't the truth, but very few people knew what actually happened on that terrible day). Kane certainly didn't like Aerrow, much less trust him. He was however, a member of the 100 and therefore it was Kane's duty as elected chancellor to take him back to the camp.

Aerrow saw the emotions flash across Kane's face as the older man pondered what to make of him. He saw anger, fear, bewilderment and confusion. Not for the first time, Aerrow had no idea what to do. The appearance of the Ark survivors had taken him completely by surprise. At least with Bellamy, Monroe and Sterling he wasn't on his own anymore. He wasn't however sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

The appearance of the Ark survivors also stirred something else in him though

"Shirt" he said to Kane. It was so quiet that Kane barely picked it up

"what?" he asked

"A shirt" Aerrow said, voice still very quiet, as if he was afraid to speak "please"

He may have changed greatly since arriving on the ground, but he was still very self-conscious of the ugly scars which adorned his body. He was ashamed by them, and never wanted anyone to see them. Now was no different.

Kane stared at Aerrow once more, unable to comprehend the boy's mindset. Only a minute ago he had brutally murdered a grounder and now? Now he was scared and diminutive. V_ulnerable._

Kane took pity on him and reached into his supply bag and pulled out a spare black, long-sleeved shirt. Aerrow put in on hurriedly before anyone saw his bare flesh. The shirt hugged his skin which he didn't like. He had decided at this stage that it was best to remain as anonymous as possible until he could get more information as to what Kane, Abby and the others were planning. He could hide his scars, but he couldn't hide his physique.

Abby walked up to where Bellamy and Aerrow were standing. At first sight, she wasn't the most intimidating person but she was highly intelligent, with the sharpness of mind to match and a ruthless determination to do what she felt was right. Aerrow knew to be wary of what she was capable of. After all, she was the only person to know the truth about what happened to him on the Ark without him actually telling them.

She glanced briefly at Aerrow before walking directly up to Bellamy, who stood shakily and had blood all over his face courtesy of the beating he had received from Tristan.

"You're injured" she said to him, reaching for her med-bag

"I'm fine" Bellamy panted in a rough voice "I need to get back to the drop ship"

"Hey" Abby said quickly "where's Clarke? Is she alright?"

At the mention of her name, Aerrow was unable to stop himself from closing his eyes tightly and turning away. Abby knew nothing of his past relationship with her daughter, or the love he still held for her, and he intended on keeping it that way, but he couldn't control his emotions in the way he used to.

"She was when we left" Bellamy said "we'll take you to her"

Aerrow knew this wasn't true. Unlike Bellamy, he had escaped the fire by climbing on top of the drop ship, and the next day when he climbed back down, no one was left. He even searched the drop ship, but all he found was the unmoving body of Raven, who he assumed was dead. He found tracks leading away from the drop ship, but they had abruptly disappeared, which was when he first met Scar.

The events of the past 3 days finally caught up with im and he was forced to put his head in his hands and sit down against a tree.

Bellamy began walking off in the direction of the drop ship, but was called back by Kane, who went off to talk to Sinclair, the head of the engineering department. It was only then that Bellamy noticed Aerrow

"hey, what's up?" he asked, walking over to his comrade.

Aerrow was about to answer when Kane came walking back over

"you two, lead the way" he commanded to Aerrow and Bellamy, as Aerrow slowly got back to his feet

"Hey, wait" Bellamy said to Kane, before turning to face Aerrow again "you know something, don't you?"

Aerrow struggled momentarily to find the words. He still couldn't accept that they were gone. That _she _was gone "they're not there" he said, staring at no-one "they're not at the drop ship"

"how can you be sure?" Kane said immediately

"I was there" He replied, his voice shaking slightly "they're gone"

"when were you there?" Abby asking, her heart in her mouth at the thought of not being able to find her daughter

"three days ago"

"well they might have come back"

"no you don't understand" Aerrow shouted. He was starting to lose his control. He could feel the anger rising in him once more "they were taken"

Kane paused, his earlier concerns about the danger Aerrow posed now elevated by his outburst

"you don't know that" he said sternly "now take us there"

Aerrow glared at Kane for a few seconds, before Bellamy put his hand on his shoulder and said "lets go" before leading Kane, Abby and six other guards in the direction of the drop ship. Aerrow lingered for a few moments, debating what to do, but eventually he turned around and followed Bellamy and the others.

…

"Have you seen Finn?" Bellamy asked as he and Aerrow walked side by side. "No" Aerrow replied simply "have you?"

"neither of us made it to the drop ship before the doors closed. We knew the fire was coming so we ran, but we got separated. I don't know if he made it out or not"

Aerrow stared down at the ground. Bellamy's news meant Finn was more than likely dead, either by flame or by grounder

"Who's your new friend" Bellamy spoke up, trying to break the depressive mood. He gestured to the Lace Monitor on Aerrow's shoulder

Aerrow glanced at the lizard before facing directly ahead once more

"_Scarafa_" he answered, the word rolling effortlessly off his tongue but in such a way that it gave the word meaning, importance.

Bellamy eyed his counterpart as they walked. He was very different since he had last seen him, in the battle with the grounders. He seemed distant, a whirlwind of emotions triggered by the events that had taken place since landing on the ground. Bellamy had already seen how quick to anger he was. Bellamy had seen his anger before, but he was always in control of it. Now it was different, it was like the anger was controlling him. However, Bellamy also detected an underlying sadness in Aerrow, everything from his posture to his eyes radiated a great despair that had wrapped itself around him like a giant constricting python, and sucked all the life out of him. His accomplice, Sara, was nowhere to be seen so he figured she must have been killed in the battle. He felt sorry for Aerrow, but he had lost people too. Like him, Aerrow needed to accept it and move on.

Eventually, the drop ship came into view and accompanying it was the pungent stench of rotting flesh. Aerrow and Bellamy crouched down and moved quickly and silently through the woods as the instincts they had honed on the ground took over. They passed the bodies of dead kids and grounders alike, all variously shot, speared or stabbed. The whole area smelt of death.

They came to a stop about 20 metres from the remains of the wall that had been built to protect the camp.

"its too quiet" Bellamy breathed

"I said they weren't here" Aerrow hissed, although it was directed more at Kane than Bellamy

"We'll check it out anyway" Kane said

Aerrow made to move forward but Kane stopped him by grabbing his arm "we'll take it from here" the chancellor said

Aerrow glared at Kane

"Banks, Scanlon, you stay with them. We'll signal once were sure its safe" Kane continued before putting his rifle to his shoulder and moving forward

"And if its not?" Aerrow demanded, stopping Kane in his tracks "you've never fought the grounders up close, you have no idea what they're like. I do"

Kane returned Aerrow's icy glare "which is exactly why you are staying here. You're dangerous. I know what you did, switchblade. We may have let you live on the Ark but mark my words if you so much as touch one of these people, I will not hesitate to kill you"

Aerrow didn't blink "go ahead" he said roughly. He shook his head slightly "I'm not afraid to die"

Kane said nothing. With one last cold look at Aerrow, he and the others moved out and entered the camp. Bellamy and Aerrow exchanged angry glances. They were just as frustrated as each other about not being able to go in as well. With nothing else to do, they began pacing back and forth impatiently.

A few minutes later, the call came out from inside the wall that a stretcher was needed. Bellamy and Aerrow stopped pacing instantly. They both glanced at each other. If a stretcher was needed, that meant their people were there after all.

They both began running towards the entrance only to be stopped by the two guards Kane had left to watch them in case of just such an occurrence.

Bellamy and Aerrow stared at each other through gritted teeth. Both knew what needed to be done. Bellamy nodded at Aerrow slightly and the response was instantaneous.

Aerrow instantly grabbed one guard's arm and kicked his knee in, then ducked a punch from the other guard and gave him and elbow to the face for his trouble, before throwing the first guard over his shoulder and into the ground. Meanwhile, the other guard raised his rifle at Aerrow only to be struck on the back of the head by Bellamy, and he too fell to the ground.

Bellamy and Aerrow raced inside the camp.

It was exactly as it was when Aerrow had last been there. A sea of ash and burnt skeletons, not a living soul in sight save for the guards investigating the area.

"you were right" Bellamy said to Aerrow, unable to disguise the disappointment in his voice

Just at that moment though, Kane came out of the drop ship, supporting the limping figure of John Murphy

"there were hundreds of them" Murphy muttered to Kane "if it wasn't for Raven, I don't know what would've happened"

Aerrow and Bellamy walked slowly towards the two. Aerrow could see the anger in Bellamy's eyes, and rightly so. Murphy was a violent psychopath and had murdered two people, shot Raven and then tried to hang Bellamy.

"Bellamy" Murphy said, seeing him walking towards him "you're ah… you're alive"

Suddenly, Bellamy charged forward and crash tackled Murphy out of Kane's grip and drove him into the ground

"yeah I'm alive!" he shouted as he threw punched into Murphy's already bloody face "you murdering son of a bitch!"

Kane watched the situation unfold almost in amusement before casually nodding to the guard next to him, who drew his shock baton and jabbed it into Bellamy's side. Bellamy convulsed as the electricity entered his body and he fell off of Murphy and lay on the ground, wheezing and gasping for air.

Kane stood over Bellamy, almost triumphantly. Kane had about as much trust for the older Blake sibling as he did for Aerrow, after he shot the then-chancellor Thelonius Jaha to get on the drop ship. "Place him under arrest" Kane said to the two guards

"hey what the hell are you doing?" Aerrow spoke up angrily as the guards cuffed Bellamy's hands together "You don't understand. Murphy murdered two of our people. He shot another and he tried to hang Bellamy"

"I don't care" Kane said coldly, walking over until he was standing just centimetres from Aerrow's face "you are not animals!"

Aerrow said nothing. He stared angrily at Kane. Kane stood about 5 centimetres taller than him, but Aerrow wasn't scared. Unseen by Kane, Aerrow clenched his fist. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold himself back.

"There are rules. Laws" Kane said, standing back and addressing the others, but there was no doubt he was directing his comments to Aerrow and Bellamy.

Kane then faced Bellamy "you are not in control here anymore" he said sternly, before turning away to help Murphy up.

"And you are, huh?" Aerrow shouted, finally snapping. It was totally unfair. Kane knew nothing of what he, Bellamy, or any of the others had been through on the ground, and yet he had assumed control as soon as he arrived. It made Aerrow sick. He hated him. "You think that you can come down here after we fought our asses off to survive, to let YOU know Earth was survivable after YOU sent us down to die"

Kane remained unmoved "yes" he said "you are criminals, not leaders"

Aerrow stood dead still, breathing heavily, before suddenly he launched himself at Kane

In an instant, Kane found himself being lifted off his feet and pushed back into the wall of the drop ship. Aerrow gripped Kane's collar with one hand, while battering his face with punch after punch with the other

"I'm sick of hearing you talk" he hissed as he lay down another punch "you have no idea what we've been through"

He paused. Out of the corner of his eye, Aerrow spotted a particular skeleton. It was relatively small and had a silver knife lying on top of it. It was Sara's skeleton. What had once been a bright, vibrant young girl was now nothing more than carbon. And for what?

Tears started forming in Aerrow's eyes as he lost all control "YOU KNOW NOTHING!" he screamed at Kane.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and Aerrow dropped to the ground, shot through the shoulder by one of the guards.

Breathing heavily with one hand clutching his jaw, Kane stood over Aerrow. "What I know is that you're a killer, Eroxin, and you've just confirmed that. We call you switchblade for a reason. It is a deserved title"

Aerrow made to get up again but Kane but his boot on Aerrow's chest and pushed him back into the ground, before drawing his pistol and aiming it squarely at Aerrow's head. "I told you I'd kill you if you attacked us" he said coldly

Aerrow glared at Kane, daring him to pull the trigger.

Kane prepared to draw the safety catch back, but was stopped by Abby "Not here" she said quietly

Kane paused, not wanting to give Aerrow another second chance. He didn't deserve it. But eventually, he lowered the gun and put it back in its holster, before motioning for the guards to cuff Aerrow and put him over with Bellamy.

Just then, the final two guards came out of the drop ship, carrying a stretcher on which Raven lay.

"Raven" Aerrow breathed, staring at the limp body of the girl who, three days ago, he left for dead

"she's lost a lot of blood" Abby said to him "it's a miracle she's still alive"

"I left her here. I thought she was dead" Aerrow whispered slowly. He was shocked more than he should have been. He was so sure that Raven was dead. If he had paid more attention he could have helped her, and she could have told him what happened to Clarke and the others. But instead he had left her behind. That was who he was now, who he had become.

Bellamy and Aerrow sat together on a log. Aerrow's swords had been taken from him and now lay discarded outside the camp wall. All he had left was Scar, who lay curled up at his feet.

Bellamy stared at Aerrow. One more question gnawed away at him, and as much as he didn't want to ask, he needed to know

"where's Sara?" he asked. Aerrow froze instantly "is she-"

"Gone" Aerrow interrupted "just like Clarke, Arianna and everyone I ever cared about"

"who's Arianna?"

Aerrow paused. He pulled the braided strands of hair over his shoulder and held the yellow feather in it in his hand. He wore it is Sara's memory. "somebody I used to know" he said quietly

One of the guards walked over to them "we're moving out soon" he said to them before walking off again

"This is stupid" Bellamy said to Aerrow "this is where they'll come back"

"They're not coming back" Aerrow growled "the grounders took them, and you know that"

Bellamy looked down sadly, accepting the truth. "so what do we do?" he asked

Aerrow ground his jaw. He tried to break the handcuffs but they were solid metal and weren't budging. "right now we've got no choice" he said "we go with Kane to the station. From there… I don't know. But we will find our friends"

Bellamy nodded "One question" he said "how many more of OUR people will be dead by then?"

Aerrow gave no answer. Instead, he rotated his head and stared sadly at Sara's skeleton

"It's time to go" one of the guards said as two of them marched over and pulled the two to their feet. Aerrow shook his shoulders in an attempt to escape but it was pointless. Without the use of his hands he would be dead within a day.

As they marched out of the remains of the camp, Aerrow saw his swords lying next to the wall. He also saw Scar lying on the ground beside them. He locked eyes with his monitor lizard, and nodded at him, before he was pushed forward by one of the guards

Eventually, with tired legs and hungry stomachs, Kane's team emerged from the trees into a massive clearing and there, bathed majestically in the afternoon sunlight, was the remains of Alpha station, dubbed 'Camp Jaha' in honour of the man who sacrificed himself so his people could get to the ground.

"Home sweet home" one of the guards said to his counterpart

Staring at the station, Aerrow wasn't sure if it was home, or a prison.

**Loved writing this chapter, love the interacting between Aerrow and Bellamy and the hostility between Aerrow and Kane. Stay tuned for more**


	5. Chapter 5

"Forget about it" Bellamy spoke up as Aerrow dropped to the ground once more, after another failed attempt to kick the door down "It once doubled as an air-lock. It's not budging". He couldn't hide the frustration in his voice as he said it.

The two had been locked up in an improvised holding cell at the camp for an entire day now, and Aerrow had been unable to suppress his anger any further.

Ignoring Bellamy, he picked himself up off the ground and faced the door once more. He still felt the rage inside of him, burning a hole through his chest. He needed to get out. Being around these people, igniting memories he wished he didn't have, he couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't belong here. He didn't belong anywhere. He just wanted to go back to his cave and hide, forever.

Channelling his anger, he took a deep breath and charged at the door. He launched himself at the air and kicked it with both legs with all his might, but the solid glass and steel structure remained unmoved.

Aerrow lost control. He shouted out in frustration and punched the door. His hand instantly rebounded off the glass and there was a sickening crack as one of the bones in his wrist broke.

Breathing heavily, Aerrow slumped to the ground, finally admitting defeat. He leaned back against the wall on the opposite side of the room to Bellamy.

"so what do we do?" he asked distantly

"what can we do?" Bellamy replied. His own anger was showing as well. They needed to find their friends. And the longer they were kept as prisoners by their own people, the less likely they would be to ever find their friends.

Suddenly, the door to their cell opened and Kane, accompanied by two guards, entered. Bellamy got to his feet straight away, Aerrow just glared at him while holding his partly broken wrist.

"How long are you going to keep us locked up in here?" Bellamy said angrily

Kane paused for a moment, before answering "until I'm confident you're no longer a threat to others" he stared straight at Aerrow as he said it. The fact that the guards were holding their weapons at the ready told Aerrow that that time was still a very long way away.

Kane grabbed a nearby chair "lets continue" he said, placing the chair in the centre of the room and gesturing for the two prisoners to sit in two more chairs. Both Aerrow and Bellamy stayed where they were

"Now you said that there were hundreds of grounders attacking" Kane continued "two, three hundred?"

"we didn't count" Aerrow said sarcastically

"why do you think they attacked? What provoked them" Kane asked coolly and calmly, staring directly at the two prisoners.

"we were here. That was enough" Bellamy said in a low voice

"this is a waste of time" Aerrow flared, getting to his feet "the others didn't just vanish into thin air they were taken! We need to go after them!"

"a search team's prepping to leave" Kane said "but not until we've gotten the intel we need from you"

A mix of surprise, hope and desperation washed over Bellamy's face. He immediately walked forwards and sat down on the chair in front of Kane "I- we need to be on that team, please" he begged Kane

"that's out of the question" Kane replied immediately "you're not trained, it's too dangerous"

"I'm sorry, what?" Aerrow interrupted, staring daggers at Kane. The asshole just couldn't admit that he was inferior to both he and Bellamy. The two had fought off grounders before. How many of the people on the 'search team' could say the same?

"did you not hear what Aerrow said yesterday about us knowing what its like to go up against them?" Bellamy said, glancing briefly at Aerrow before tuning his gaze back to Kane.

Kane was silent, but Aerrow could see him grinding his jaw

"those are our people out there" Bellamy continued, gesturing to himself and Aerrow

"they're my people too" Kane said

Aerrow lunged forward at Kane. How dare he say that they were his people. He most likely never even knew most of them, much less cared about them. Both guards immediately pointed their rifles directly at him, and he froze instantly, before backing down. He may have been angry, but he could still think.

Kane did not flinch.

He turned around to speak to the guards "we don't need this one" he said quietly "take him somewhere else"

The two guards immediately moved forward and secured Aerrow, and cuffed his hands together once more. The teenager struggled but was unable to stop them. The guards then began dragging him out of the cell and into the hallway

Aerrow stole one last angry glance at Kane and shouted roughly "why not just kill me? Coward!" before the guards dragged him around the corner and towards another, smaller cell.

They threw him into it and were about to shut the door when a female voice called out for them to wait

Aerrow looked up and saw Abby Griffin walking towards him.

She had a brief discussion with the two guards. Aerrow didn't need to hear what they were saying to know they were talking about him. Eventually, the guards stepped aside and Abby entered the cell. Aerrow stood up straight and stared at her through narrowed, but thoughtful eyes. Abby was here for a reason, same as she had stopped Kane from killing him at the drop ship. It seemed like she was protecting him or something. Why?

"I need you to come with me" she said

"and why should I do that?" Aerrow replied evenly, crossing his arms as he said it

Abby leaned forward and whispered slowly in his ear "because you want to find your friends"

As she leant back, Aerrow stared blank faced at the wall. Inside his head, his brain was shifting gears, calculating and weighing up his options. Eventually, he made his decision.

"Ok" he said roughly, and he followed her out of the room

…

"First things first I need to stitch the bullet wound in your shoulder" Abby said as they entered the medical tent

"It's fine" Aerrow countered, disinterested "I've had worse"

Abby stopped instantly and turned around and faced him. She said nothing, but the look in her eyes was as fierce as any he had seen

"Fine" he said slowly and evenly

He sat down and slipped the corner of his shirt over his shoulder, exposing the bullet wound inflicted upon him by the guard, along with a scar or two and the edges of his grounder-esque tattoos.

"I see you've been looking after yourself" Abby said nonchalantly as she plunged the needle through his skin and began sewing up the hole

Aerrow said nothing. In fact, he didn't even flinch as Abby set to work on the other side of his shoulder. This was nothing compared to some of the stuff he'd been through

"what do you want Abby?" he asked evenly

Abby paused "what do you mean?" she asked

"you got me out of that cell" he said in a low voice "Why? You must want something in return?"

Abby put down the needle and stared directly into his eyes "I want you to find my daughter"

Aerrow's steely gaze faltered ever so slightly. His head was filled with thoughts. Why him? There was no way Abby could know the full extent of his deadly skill set, or how he felt about her daughter, was there? There had to be more to this than she was letting on. It was the same thing on the Ark. She somehow knew he was wrongly imprisoned, and yet she hadn't done anything about it.

What could he do? There was only one thing he could do. He nodded slowly at her.

"good" Abby said, standing up "now there's one more thing I need you to do"

"whats that?" Aerrow asked just as Abby pulled back a flap leading to another room to reveal Raven lying belly-down on a bed. She had only her pants and a sports bra on, revealing the horribly discoloured section of her lower back where she had been shot. Obviously the bullet was still inside her.

"What's going on?" Aerrow asked Abby quietly

"She needs surgery to remove the bullet" Abby answered "with no anaesthesia, she can die. You have to help her get through it. If anyone knows how to deal with pain like that it's you"

Aerrow bit his bottom lip and stared at Raven. Her eyes were determined but she couldn't mask the underlying fear in them, the fear of pain that is engrained in everything in the animal kingdom. Aerrow made up his mind quickly. He had left her to die on the drop ship. He at least owed it to her to help her try and live here.

He walked over and sat down in front of Raven

"Aerrow? What- what are you doing here?" she inquired, seemingly surprised to see him

"Raven there's something I have to tell you" he said quietly

"what?" she asked, detecting the sad look on his face

He took a deep breath and sighed "Finn's dead"

He saw her eyes change. He saw her last glimmer of hope and happiness fade away. Her eyes widened and she looked away "no…" she breathed

"what are you doing?" Abby hissed at him

Aerrow ignored her "Raven I saw his body" he continued, genuine sadness his voice "The grounders killed him"

"stop talking" she growled

"Raven I'm sor-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" she shouted, interrupting him. He could see the tears in her eyes as she lowered her head. He saw her take several heavy breaths and then she screamed into the pillow. He knew the feeling that came from losing someone you loved with all your heart. He knew what it did to people

He lifted his gaze from Raven to Abby "do it" he told her

She gingerly picked up the scalpel and slowly plunged it into Raven's back.

The poor girl screamed harder as Abby cut deeper. Aerrow grabbed her hand and squeezed it so tightly his knuckles began to turn white. This was the most painful way for her to undergo the surgery, but it was the only way for her to survive, for he knew that the physical pain she was in right now was far outweighed by the mental agony.

Blood was gushing from the open slice in her back and was pouring down her side. Abby needed to move fast or else her patient would die from blood loss

"Raven look at me" Aerrow growled "LOOK AT ME!"

Raven looked up. He locked his blazing eyes with hers and remained dead still.

"you can do this" he whispered to her.

Her body was trembling but her own determination shone through in her eyes. She gritted her teeth and nodded slightly at him.

She screamed once more as Abby pulled the bullet out of her spine, before collapsing unconscious, her ordeal finally over.

Abby silently put the crumpled bullet onto a metal tray, before turning around to face Aerrow, who was still sat in front of Raven.

"why did you tell her that?" she demanded

"she needed the anger. Otherwise she wouldn't have made it through" he replied quietly

"now she will live with that anger for the rest of her life!" Abby scorned

Aerrow shrugged "sometimes it's the only way to keep living" he said sadly

While Abby cleaned the blood of herself and her surgical instruments, Aerrow stayed by Raven's side, not doing anything, just staring at her. The girl was tough, there was no doubt about that. She survived a drop to earth in a 130 year old space pod she rebuilt herself, she survived a bullet going into her body and later on the same bullet coming out. Aerrow couldn't help but wonder at what cost though. He was too far gone to redeem himself, but hopefully Raven could hold onto whatever good still resided in her. If anyone could, it was her.

Eventually, her eyes fluttered open and she groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. Aerrow leaned forwards slightly as she turned her head to face him.

"well I guess I didn't die" she croaked

Aerrow said nothing, just shook his head slightly

"Thank you" she said to him, genuinely grateful

Aerrow didn't know how to react to this. Had he… had he just done something good for someone else? After all the pain and suffering he had caused himself and others, was there still some sort of light inside of him? Was he redeemable after all? He squeezed his eyes shut and forced the thought from his brain. That person had been broken the moment Dylan Joyce had slit Arianna's throat and then destroyed when Tristan drove his sword through Sara's chest.

Aerrow inhaled sharply and swallowed his emotions "Abby says you have nerve damage in your lower left leg" he told her "It'll heal eventually but for now you'll need crutches"

He could see the disappointment flash across her face as she heard this. She fought back tears and growled in frustration as she punched her leg, as if it would somehow bring movement and feeling back to it.

"Hey" Aerrow said sternly, stopping her. He softened his voice "at least you're alive"

"but I'm still crippled" she sniffed

Aerrow paused "you need to rest" he said

He got up to leave, only to have Raven grab his hand "hey" she called out

He turned around, startled

"I'm going to go to sleep" she continued, her voice quiet but fiery "and when I wake up, don't be here"

Aerrow looked down briefly, before fixing his eyes on hers once more. The softness in his eyes had gone, replaced the fiery anger that just felt so normal to him now

"what do you mean?" he asked eventually

"I don't know why, but at the moment you're here for me" she answered "But our friends are out there, somewhere"

Aerrow held his gaze

"and you need to go get them"

**Just to clarify, I am not trying to just replace Finn with Aerrow here, however I do need his character to be very close to Finn's for what happens later in this story. I apologise for the big delay once more in putting this new chapter up, I was bogged down with a mix of being away from my computer, schoolwork and planning out what will happen in later chapters. As always, hoped you enjoyed this chapter, more to come soon**


	6. Chapter 6

**Warning: this chapter contains large amounts of graphic violence and death. I advise you read at your own discretion. More notes at the end**

Aerrow strode out of the medical tent, moving with purpose for the first time in days.

His plan was simple: bust Bellamy out of prison, gather some weapons, and then the two of them would finally find their missing friends.

All he needed to do was stay away from Kane and the guards

He moved quickly and silently through the camp as the surviving Ark citizens went about their daily business, not knowing there was a killer amongst them.

He stopped briefly at the tent where the few animals the guards had managed to shoot were being skinned and butchered. He grabbed a few of the off-cuts and walked out again. He then walked over to the perimeter of the fence, where, bizarrely, he discarded most of the meat just outside the perimeter, while shoving the remaining scraps into one of his pockets. He looked around quickly to make sure no one had seen him before walking straight towards the main structure, where Bellamy was still locked up.

He was about to walk in when a guard walking the other way crashed into his shoulder

"hey, watch it" they called out

Aerrow held his nerve and kept walking. He couldn't allow himself to be spotted now. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side and a few seconds later, Aerrow felt a hand grab his shoulder and yank him around

"I said watch-" the guard cut himself off and his eyes widened.

Aerrow did exactly the same. He stood dead still. He recognised this guard. Standing in front of him, was none other than Dylan Joyce.

Aerrow glared at Dylan. This man had once been his best friend. They grew up together, they went to guard school together and they partied together. Then, one day, during the guard trials, Aerrow was selected for the coveted position in the guard despite the fact that he was nearly a year younger than Dylan, and still was not at the minimum age required to get in. This did not sit well with Dylan, who over-reacted just a little bit and decided to get payback by murdering everyone Aerrow held dear, before mutilating his friend's body and leaving him to die.

In the aftermath of this, Aerrow was left with one burning goal: take revenge on the person who did this to him. He trained for two years in solitary confinement until the day came when he would put his plan into action and finally get his revenge. Ultimately, he never got the chance as he was instead bundled into the drop ship and sent to Earth.

Now though, Dylan was right in front of him, living, breathing. But not for long as now Aerrow finally had a chance to take back what Dylan took from him.

"You" Aerrow growled, giving Dylan no time to react as he rushed forward and grabbed the guard's throat.

Dylan was thickly built and strong, and he'd always topped hand to hand combat trials in the guard, but even he was no match for the pure rage that flooded through Aerrow and seemed to give him extra strength. He pushed Dylan away from the station and into the centre of the camp, before driving him into the ground.

Dylan rolled to the side, avoiding Aerrow's fist just in time as the enraged man set about exacting his long awaited revenge.

Dylan stood and faced Aerrow, who was positively shaking with rage

He held his hand out in front of him, in a gesture of surrender "Eroxin… listen to me" he choked out

Aerrow responded by striding forward and punching him in the face. Hard.

Dylan dropped to the ground but got back on his knees before Aerrow could finish him off

"I know… I know I killed her… but I never wanted to… I- I was forced"

"Bullshit" Aerrow spat. He brutally kicked Dylan's ribs. He heard a series of cracks as the guard dropped to the ground. He then got on top of him, grabbed his neck and began choking him.

"You psychopathic son of a bitch" he growled "You killed Arianna. And now you're going to pay"

He kept one hand around Dylan's throat while with his other hand he beat his former friend's face to a pulp. Blood exploded from Dylan's nose as it broke. He put his hand up feebly to try and defend himself but Aerrow grabbed his arm, wrenched it to the side and dislocated it. Dylan roared in pain.

By now the other guards had noticed what was happening and were sprinting over

Aerrow saw them coming. There was no turning back now. He paused his assault to deliver his final words "I've been waiting two years to do this" he hissed

"It… wasn't… me…" Dylan wheezed. His broken ribs had punctured his lung. Even if Aerrow stopped now, there would be no saving him. His death would be slow.

Aerrow ignored him. He took Dylan's head in both of his hands, before mercilessly bashing the back of it against a rock on the ground, splitting Dylan's skull open.

With Aerrow still on top of him, Dylan's body twitched and spasmed as his brain began to shut down. He stared up at Aerrow with bloody, terrified eyes.

"O… Oblivion" he whispered before finally, mercifully, death came

Aerrow froze when Dylan breathed his last. He felt no remorse for what he'd just done. Only the residue of the burning anger and a sadistic sense of satisfaction. At last, Dylan Joyce was dead. At last, he had his revenge.

Finally, the guards arrived. They immediately grabbed Aerrow's arms and manhandled him away from Dylan's body.

"Get off me!" the teenager roared, still fuelled by his rage.

He kicked one of the guards' knee in, dropping the man before he turned on the other guard. 3 sharp, focussed blows to his midriff and the second guard also hit the ground.

Only then did the rest of the guards arrive in force, led by Kane. It took several guards just to restrain him, before Kane slammed the butt of his rifle into the side of his head and in an instant his world went to black.

Eventually, the darkness faded and Aerrow groggily blinked back to life.

The first thing he noticed was that he was tied between two posts of some sort, on a platform placed directly in the middle of the camp. His legs were free but his arms were held securely out to their sides by straps attached to the posts. He tested the straps holding his arms out, but they held solid.

Taking slow, deep breaths, Aerrow lent back and beheld the scene in front of him. He took in Dylan's broken, dead and bloody corpse. Grey and red brain matter oozed out of the back of his shattered skull, and his bloodshot eyes stared wide open up at the sky, unblinking, forever frozen in a look of absolute terror.

He then saw the crowd gathered in front of him. Just about everyone in the camp was staring at him. All of them had various looks of hate or disgust or even just pure terror. Taking in everything around him, he began to get a very bad feeling about what was to come.

His view of the camp was blocked when Kane stepped in front of him. The older man stared at him long and hard before eventually he spoke

"an innocent man. Murdered" he spoke slowly "why?"

Aerrow said nothing

"answer the question Eroxin!" another guard, a woman with short blonde hair demanded

"what's Oblivion?" Aerrow spoke, his voice low and quiet, his eyes still filled with hate.

Kane paused "what?"

"That 'innocent man' was a psychopath" Aerrow hissed "you think I killed my girlfriend and my parents? You're wrong. It was him" he shifted his eyes to Dylan's body, before moving them back to Kane "He committed those crimes, not me. Just before he died he said he was forced to kill them, by something called Oblivion"

"Just before you murdered him in cold blood you mean" Kane interrupted

Aerrow growled menacingly and tried once more to escape his bonds, but to no avail

Kane remained unmoved "You haven't changed at all, Switchblade" he began to turn away

"Neither have you" Aerrow shot back quickly, raising his voice so the crowd could hear him "you lying, scheming, single-minded asshole"

Kane stopped immediately. He did not turn back to face Aerrow, but rather he stepped in front of him and faced the crowd "Aerrow Eroxin is under arrest for assault and murder" he stated loudly "and he is hereby sentenced to death"

The crowd collectively either gasped or cheered. Aerrow looked up and saw a rope thrown over a cross bar between the two posts. At its end was a loop.

They were going to hang him.

"Sir, a word" the blonde guard whispered to Kane

"What is it Burn?" Kane replied

"with respect, a death sentence isn't enough. He must be punished"

"This is the ultimate punishment" Kane said stoically

The guard, Burn, shifted her eyes away from Kane and stared coldly at Aerrow "not for him" she said

Kane stared at Aerrow, as if debating what to do. He wasn't a cold person at heart, and he didn't enjoy seeing people in pain, but in his heart, he knew Burn was right. A simple hanging was not a sufficient punishment for someone like Switchblade.

"very well" he said quietly

Burn instantly moved forward. She stood behind Aerrow and ripped the back of his shirt open, uncovering the various burns, scars and stab wounds engraved on the skin

"that was one of my men you killed" she hissed in his ear

Aerrow stared straight ahead "good" he said, his voice uncaring but firm

Burn responded to this by bashing the back of his head with the butt of her rifle. Aerrow fell forward and grunted in a mix of pain and anger, but he didn't black out. He wouldn't give Burn the satisfaction. He stared past the fence. If he ever got out of this, Burn, Kane and everyone else would wish they had simply hung him. All thoughts of freeing Bellamy and finding Clarke had vanished, replaced by the anger that swirled around his head.

He heard Burn extend her shock baton. So this was his extra punishment. Shock lashing. It was not pleasant. The moment the end of the baton touched the victim's skin, electricity flooded their body, burning the skin and causing intense pain.

The crowd was silent. They knew what was about to happen. Burn stared at Kane, waiting for his final word of permission. He nodded at her and she immediately jabbed her baton into Aerrow's back.

Blinding white light shot across his vision and his body convulsed as the electricity sent his nervous system into haywire. Any ordinary person would have screamed, or perhaps blacked out, but not Aerrow. He still felt the pain but he resolved himself to contain it. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and weathered the pain.

He just caught his breath when Burn lashed him again, and this time he let out a pained and angry grunt and he let his head fell forwards as he gasped for breath.

"You feel that Switchblade?" Burn hissed

He wasn't going to give in though. His eyes were narrowed with rage and determination as he lifted his head once more and prepared for the next shock. Burn lashed him again and again and again. His grunts and screams echoed throughout the camp. The crowd watched on with various looks of dismay, disgust and anger. Most were happy that he was being punished like this. There were though, a few who felt sympathetic. No-one, no matter what crime they had done, deserved this.

As Burn lashed him an eighth time, Aerrow somehow still found the strength to raise his head defiantly at Kane. He was not going to give in. His muscles were clenched rigid and scorch marks were all over his back. But he was not dead yet. He was going to keep fighting until the end.

"No escape this time" Burn growled at him. She put her shock baton away, grabbed the noose and slipped it around Aerrow's neck "this time, you're dead". Aerrow had no answer, for deep down, he knew it was true. There was indeed no escape this time.

But then he saw it, saw the flash of white and black move through the camp. It was so fast that the guards didn't even notice it until it ran in onto the elevated patch of ground where Aerrow was about to be executed. With another brutally fast and powerful movement, it tripped Burn over. The blonde guard got back to her feet and chased after it, only to run into the path of a far greater threat.

Quick as a flash, Aerrow whipped his untied legs up, wrapped them around Burn's neck and jack-knifed sideways. Her neck snapped in half instantly.

As her already dead body dropped to the ground, the white and black flash scrambled up one of the posts holding Aerrow's arms out, down the strap and came to a stop next to his left hand, revealing itself.

It was Scar, his faithful Lace Monitor.

Attracted by the smell of the meat left outside the camp, Aerrow's backup had arrived.

In his mouth, the lizard carried two sheaths, with the shiny silver end of a sword poking out of each one. Aerrow wasted no time in drawing on of the swords and using it to cut the strap holding his left hand. As the guards scrambled for their weapons he set to work on his other hand, and in seconds he was completely free, armed, and seriously pissed off.

With a sword in each hand and Scar by his side he sprinted off the platform, swinging his swords at the two guards at the bottom, taking one's head off and gutting the other as he ran towards the entrance to the camp. He knew that, even with his fighting skills, he couldn't face off against all the guards and their guns, so he had to escape as quickly as possible.

A squad of ten guards beat him to the gate. Aerrow dived behind a tree stump just in time as the guards opened fire. Dirt and tree bark flew everywhere as the guards assaulted the stump with a withering burst of fire. The stump was at least a metre thick so the bullets couldn't penetrate far enough to hit Aerrow.

He waited until the guards stopped firing to reload, then he popped up from behind his cover and with a lightning flick of his arm he threw one of his swords into the lead guards face. The other guards stared in shock as their leader's blood spread over the surrounding ground. This was their greatest error.

Aerrow was on them in seconds. Fuelled by pain and rage, he butchered the remaining guards where they stood. He took no prisoners. He showed no mercy. He simply cut the guards down until only one was left. Aerrow quickly disarmed him by cleaving his gun-hand completely off, then put a sword to his throat and span him around to face Kane. The Chancellor had wanted to see an execution, so that was what he was going to get.

Aerrow's eyes widened when instead of Kane, or Abby, he saw Bellamy standing in front of him, a look of horror on his face. As soon as Aerrow had made his break for freedom, Kane retrieved him from his cell, in hopes that he could talk to and reason with his insane comrade. Bellamy had seen the entire thing.

"Aerrow… what are you doing?" He breathed

Breathing heavily, with hatred still pumping through him, Aerrow shuddered and closed his eyes "I don't belong here" he said, his voice almost a whimper "I need to get away" he kept the sword firmly against the guard's throat.

Bellamy took a stride towards Aerrow. He held his hands out in front of him, trying to calm him down "Look, just let him go, come back with me. We'll talk about this" he said slowly

Aerrow knew that wasn't an option. He would be shot to bits the moment he let the guard go

"I can't" he stammered "not after what they did to me"

Bellamy began to say something but Aerrow interrupted him

"I need you to do something for me" he spoke up, suddenly finding strength in his voice again

Bellamy paused for a few seconds "what?" he eventually said

Aerrow looked him dead in the eye "When you find her" he said quietly but firmly, so only Bellamy could hear "Tell Clarke I'm dead"

"What do you m-" Bellamy began but it was too late. With a single movement, Aerrow sliced the guard's throat open. Blood sprayed everywhere and everyone who saw it had to turn away in disgust.

Meanwhile Aerrow used this opportunity and fled into the bushes with Scar. He knew Kane would send search teams after him, so they could bring him back and make him pay. He wasn't going to let that happen. He had only gone 100 metres or so when he came face to face with the masks of three grounders.

…

A scream echoed through the woods.

At first Marcus Kane thought it had come from Aerrow, and that the search team had found him. But the voice was different. He realised in horror that the scream had come from a member of the search team.

He immediately grabbed a rifle of his own and along with every other guard in the camp, moved out into the woods to find his men and kill Switchblade once and for all. What he found horrified him

There, crucified to a tree with primitive axes and spears, were the three members of the search team. Their bodies were ragged and blood poured from their still open wounds. All three were dead. Kane fought back the urge to vomit as he stared at the gruesome corpses. This wasn't the work of Switchblade. These men had been killed by grounders.

Kane cut the bodies down and carried them back into the camp as quickly as possible.

As they left the scene, their movements were observed by a single figure, perched high in the trees. Hidden in the bushes underneath were the weaponless bodies of three grounders.

As soon as Kane was out of sight, Aerrow Eroxin lowered himself to the ground and sprinted off into the distance.

At last he was free

**Well… that was violent. I am considering raising the rating for the story after this chapter. I didn't intend for it to be that violent but at the same time I'm glad it is as I hope it represents a newer, harder, faster and hopefully better style of writing for me.**

**Following up what I said about Aerrow being similar to Finn. The characters may be similar but make no mistake they will have very different fates (after all, it wouldn't be much of a story of the main character died halfway through…)**

**For those wondering what 'Oblivion' is, I created the character Aerrow long before I discovered The 100, so he very much has his own story line woven into the actual plot, which will be elaborated on in future chapters. As always, hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to let me know what you would like to see from this story, any feedback is much appreciated. In the meantime, stay tuned for more. Aerrow/Clarke will happen very soon…**


	7. Chapter 7

Thirty minutes later, Aerrow finally came to a breathless halt at the base of a small rock formation.

His throat was dry and his lungs burned as he bent over double and took deep, heaving breaths. He eventually found the strength to raise his head to look back to where he came from. In the distance he could make out the upright ring of the Ark station. He must have sprinted the last 4 miles or so.

He desperately wanted to keep going, to get as far away from that place as possible, but the enormous physical exertion of the days bloody and brutal events final caught up to him. His legs refused to work and he found himself collapsing for the ground, gasping for air, before eventually passing out from sheer fatigue.

An entire day passed before Aerrow regained consciousness. He wearily lifted his head from the ground and eased himself up against a rock. Judging by the time of day, he guessed he had been out for at least 16 hours. His entire body was once again caked in blood from his massacre the previous day and the electricity burns on his back stung like crazy.

But he had to keep moving. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to go all the same. It was much the same as his entire life really. He no longer had any direction, any purpose, yet he still trudged on.

So with a groan he pushed himself back to his feet and set off once more on his aimless trek through the forest.

He had been walking for about an hour when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He immediately went over to investigate it. It was a footprint. The unmistakeable footprint of a grounder.

Aerrow suddenly became laser focussed. His own words from two days before rang in his head "_The grounders took them, you know that_"

They were then replaced by Raven's from the previous day "_our friends are out there. And you need to go and get them"_

Aerrow looked up in the direction the footprints were headed, and he narrowed his eyes.

He moved through the woods quickly and silently, scouring the land ahead for the next footprint. There was only one set of tracks which meant there was only one grounder he had to worry about. What he was going to do when he caught up he didn't yet know, but what he was sure of was that he was going to find this grounder, and then Clarke.

Scar meanwhile had found the scent the grounder had left behind with his incredibly sensitive tongue, and ran ahead of Aerrow, leading the teenager on in his search. The two worked as a team and covered ground quickly, and eventually Aerrow heard footsteps up ahead.

The human and the Lace Monitor quickly scouted around the sound of the footsteps, so they were now in the path of whatever was coming towards them.

They hid in the bushes and eventually, the grounder they had been tracking came into view. He was an ugly man. His face had been half burnt off and he was missing an eye, but he still moved with purpose and radiated the strength of a warrior.

He had something around his neck, a pendant of some sort. Aerrow looked closer and his eyes widened.

The pendant was actually a watch. And that watch belonged to Clarke.

Aerrow would recognise it anywhere. It had once belonged to her father, who had given it to her before he got floated and she had cherished it ever since. She would never give it up willingly.

This confirmed what he already knew: The grounders had taken her and the others. He just needed to find out where.

He turned to face Scar. He gave a small gesture and the lizard scurried off into the bushes

Once Scar was out of sight, he stood up suddenly and called out "hey!"

The grounder turned instantly, and saw the teenager standing 20 metres in front of him. His eyes narrowed and his hand went to his side to draw his sword

CRACK! A whip from Scar's powerful tail shattered the man's ankle and he dropped to the ground. Aerrow was on him in seconds. He kicked the man's sword out of his reach before bashing his head with the hilt of one of his own swords and knocking the man out. He then heaved the unconscious grounder onto his shoulders and carried him away.

Aerrow carried the grounder back to his cave, where he awoke to find himself tied up, with a sword pressed against his neck.

With dark, narrowed eyes, Aerrow held the watch in front of him for the grounder to see

"where did you get this?" he demanded in a cold, dark tone

The grounder said nothing. He stared straight back into his eyes

"I said where!" Aerrow shouted, stomping on the mans hands, turning the bones inside them to powder

The grounder grunted in pain "I found it outside your camp" he panted "it was just lying on the ground"

"you're lying" Aerrow growled "you took it from a girl who was wearing it. WHERE IS SHE!"

"I saw no girl" the grounder replied slowly

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Aerrow shouted "you bastards took my friends, I know you did. Now tell me where!"

When the grounder didn't answer, Aerrow rotated his sword around so the tip was pointing into the grounders temple. A thin trail of blood trickled down his cheek.

"3 seconds" he hissed

"and then what?" the grounder answered, his voice cold as ice "you'll kill me?"

Aerrow glared at him

"go ahead" the grounder continued, keeping Aerrow's eyes fixed on his so his captor couldn't see what he was doing with his hands "kill me. But then you'll never find the answers you so desperately desire. So kill me, or don't kill me. Either way, it doesn't matter"

Aerrow was visibly seething with rage. Not because the grounder was lying, _but because he was right_. There was nothing short of killing this man that he could do to make him do anything, and of course you can't talk if you're dead. If he wanted to find Clarke he needed to think of something that would make him talk, and fast.

Suddenly through, the grounder whipped his arms up from behind his back, knocked the sword out of Aerrow's hand and, despite his broken hands, punched the teenager hard in his stomach, winding him.

As Aerrow doubled over, struggling to get air back into his lungs, the grounder got back on his feet and limped towards the tunnel leading back up to the surface.

He was about to reach it when Aerrow regained his breath, spun around and hurled his other sword at the grounders back. It hit the man's shoulder with such force it punctured his lung and drove itself through his body so the sharpened tip was pointing out of the front of his chest. He dropped to the ground.

Aerrow was on him instantly. He grabbed the man by his shoulders, yanked him to his feet and pinned him against wall of the cave. "not so fast" he hissed "we're not finished yet" he punched the man squarely in the mouth, knocking several of his teeth out in the process

"now tell me where my friends are" he said icily to the grounder. He grabbed the sword sticking out of the man's shoulder and twisted, causing the grounder to yell out in pain and collapse to the ground. Aerrow quickly re-tied his bonds, more securely this time and then went over to Scar.

He opened the monitor lizard's mouth and coated the tip of his sword with the lizard's saliva, before walking back over to the grounder and stabbing him directly in the chest.

"You feel that?" he hissed at the grunting man "Monitor Lizard venom. It attacks the neuro-receptors in your body, simulating massive pain"

This was true. Unlike snakes, which injected their venom directly into the victim, Monitor Lizards secreted their venom into their mouths, where it mixed with ordinary saliva before entering the victim's body. It was where the ancient myth about Monitor Lizards holding super-bacteria in their mouths came from. While Monitor Lizards had always been venomous, their venom had never affected humans. The radiation from the war however had mutated the formula for the proteins that made up the venom, increasing its effectiveness ten-fold

A few weeks previously, when Aerrow found himself in a role-reversal, where it was he who was held prisoner at the grounders' mercy, they had done the same thing and stabbed him with a dagger laced with what he thought at the time was snake venom, when in actual fact it was Monitor Lizard venom. He found this out when he first met Scar and made the mistake of trying to touch the Lizard's head, only to have it clamp its jaws around his hand. It took a day for the throbbing pain in his hand to fade.

Aerrow held the venom laced sword within the grounder's chest. The pain just kept building until eventually, the man could take no more

"okay!" the grounder cried out, finally giving in. Aerrow instantly removed the sword "we were taking your friends to our prison camp, but then the Reapers appeared and took some our people, as well as the girl you seek"

"Reapers took her…" Aerrow breathed in horror

This was not good. The Reapers were demented cannibals who lived in a labyrinth of underground tunnels. He had witnessed their horrific brutality first hand. Anyone who was unlucky enough to find themselves in the clutches of the Reapers did not have long to live. He had to move fast.

"they took them where?" he said to his prisoner, desperation creeping into his voice

"the tunnels to the east" the grounder answered "you find the Reapers, you find your girl"

Aerrow turned away to leave immediately

"But you also find your death" the grounder called out

Aerrow stopped instantly. He was dead still for several seconds before suddenly he whipped around and drove his sword through the side of the grounder's head, killing him instantly.

He withdrew his sword and let the body drop to the ground, where blood poured from the grotesque wound on the side of his head.

Aerrow stared at the body briefly. His eyes moved from it up to the painting on the wall. He focussed on Sara's face this time, not Clarke's as he so often had. It was here where he first gave in to his feelings for her, and had created so many happy memories for himself. It was a tragic irony how this cave that had once bought him so much happiness, was now stained in blood and reeked of death.

He stripped the grounder of his outer clothing before putting the animal-skin clothes on. He didn't know why. There was just something in him that made him think that disguising himself was the right thing to do. He mixed some crushed charcoal with water to make a black paint, which he spread around his eyes, before finishing his disguise by putting the dead grounder's intimidating facemask on. Satisfied that he looked close enough to a grounder, he stowed his swords in their holsters and marched out of the cave.

As Aerrow walked, he cursed himself for not getting the grounder to draw him a map or something before he killed him. Now he had no way of knowing exactly where to go. Time was of the essence, and with Clarke in the hands of the Reapers, he needed to find her fast, before they tore her flesh from her bones and ate her alive.

Suddenly, he heard a strange sound coming from up ahead of him. They sounded almost like someone crying?

He hurried over a crest to see what was going on, and found Bellamy's sister, Octavia, crouched on the ground, sobbing. She must have survived the battle as well. Quite why she was crying he was not sure. She saw him and instantly her hand went defensively to the sword at her side. He had the clothes and the facemask he had taken from the grounder on so of course she wouldn't recognise him.

He quickly held his hand out in front of him, telling her that he was no threat, while his other hand went to his facemask and he began to take it off. If it were anyone else he would have kept his true identity hidden, but Octavia had been kind to him. She was one of the few people who accepted him for who he was without prejudice. She deserved to know he was still alive.

However, just as he was about to take the facemask off, a dark skinned woman with short hair, a grounder walked over the rise.

She stopped instantly when she saw him and stared at him with hard eyes

"who are you?" she growled. Obviously she didn't recognise him as being part of her tribe or something.

Aerrow held her gaze "it doesn't matter" he said roughly, disguising his voice "where are the tunnels that lead to the Reapers?"

"you are an outsider" the grounder stated, keeping her voice icy "you have no place here"

Aerrow strode towards her "tell me where the tunnels are" he demanded slowly

The grounder's eyes flashed with anger and she drew her sword. Aerrow however anticipated the move, grabbed her sword hand with one hand and her neck with the other and forced her back against a tree

"they have my friend" he shouted "where are they?"

The grounder glared at him for a moment before eventually answering "east. Head towards that mountain" she nodded to a tall mountain about 3 miles away

Aerrow instantly let her go and began marching towards the mountain

"be warned, outsider" the female grounder called out "you find the Reapers, and you will find your death"

Aerrow ignored her, despite the fact that she was the second grounder to tell him that exact thing that day. He had taken on the Reapers before, and had come out on top then. He could do it again. Especially given that now Clarke's life was on the line.

Eventually, he found himself at the entrance to one of the dark, forbidding tunnels that lead to the lair of the Reapers. He paused for a second, took a deep breath, then marched forth into the underworld.

**Nothing much really happened in this chapter, its more here to set up what happens in the coming chapters, where a lot (and I mean A LOT) happens. Hope you're enjoying the story so far. Aerrow/Clarke happens next chapter, but not in the way you might think…**


	8. Chapter 8

**Aerrow is finally reunited with Clarke in this chapter, how not in a way that either of them perhaps were expecting**

Black.

Total, utter darkness

The tunnel was dark and dank. Dust and grime burned the back of Aerrow's throat but he kept moving. He had to find Clarke.

What he did when (or if) he found her, he didn't know. He just hoped beyond all hope that she was still alive.

The far bigger question he found himself was how he would act when he did. Nearly the exact same thing had happened to him over two years ago, and he had become cold and distant. Back then though, he had tried to forget about emotions such as love, though ultimately Clarke and Sara helped him rediscover them. He realised now that it was just about impossible to forget about an emotion as powerful as love. It was however possible to avoid it.

Did he still love her? Yes. Whether or not she still loved him he had no idea. He flashed back to his hallucination of her in the cave, where she told him he was a monster and she never wanted to see him again. He kept telling himself over and over that it was just a hallucination and there was no truth behind what he heard. Or was there? Suddenly, he was glad he was wearing the grounder's clothes and facemask.

Eventually, his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he was able to see a bit more clearly where he was going. Not that it was much help. The entire place was a maze. It would be easy for him to lose his way and never come out. He began to see the truth behind the grounders' warnings.

He made the smart decision to start marking which way he'd come by making arrows out of rocks on corners, so at least he could find his way out again, much like the mythological hero Theseus leaving a trail of thread behind him when navigating the maze of the Minotaur, a monstrous half man – half bull that feasted on the flesh of young men and women. Aerrow may not have been facing a Minotaur, but the Reapers sure came close.

Suddenly, he saw the faint orange hue of a fire up ahead of him. Instinctively, he pressed himself to the side of the tunnel and edged his way towards it. He had found the Reapers lair.

This place was familiar. He had been here once before, trying to find his way back to the drop ship with Clarke and Finn. He had been horrified then and he was horrified now. There were at least 15 Reapers sat around a sickly orange fire in the centre of a clearing in the tunnel. Off to the side were two massive mine carts, where the Reapers piled the bodies of their victims.

There were no bones on the ground nor the smell of human flesh. Aerrow looked on in horror as he realised that Clarke and the others must be in the carts, on the brink of death, but still alive at least.

One of the Reapers got to his feet and began walking over to the carts. Aerrow needed to make his move soon, but there was one problem: there was no way he would be able to take on all the Reapers. He had fought off 5 of them once and barely escaped then, there was no way he could take 15. The fight would be short and his death painful.

He couldn't sit aside and do nothing though. He wouldn't resign Clarke to her inevitable, gruesome fate. Maybe it would be best to sacrifice himself, giving her the chance to escape. Given the things he had done, maybe he deserved to be eaten alive. Clarke didn't though. She didn't deserve such a fate. She deserved to see the light of day again. She deserved a life.

As the Reaper approached the carts, Aerrow solemnly drew his swords and tried to calm himself. He took several deep breaths and forced himself to accept what he had to do. The Reaper grabbed the cloth covering the carts and Aerrow prepared himself to attack. The Reaper removed the cloth revealing…

…Nothing.

The carts were completely empty.

Aerrow breathed a sigh of relief. It meant that Clarke was still out there, somewhere. Maybe she had escaped, or maybe she was at another 'storage' location. Either way, he still had to find her.

This time though, he had no idea where to go. He would just have to search the entire mine system until he found her, or the Reapers found him.

He was about to turn the other way when the Reaper who had removed the cloth walked back to the fire, grabbed a flaming torch and began heading down a small side tunnel. Maybe he was heading to another gathering of Reapers or going out to find more bodies. Aerrow didn't know. What he did know was that now his best option was following this Reaper, so, sticking to the shadows, he skirted around the clearing and set off down the tunnel after the Reaper.

Tailing the Reaper was easier said than done. The man – if you could call him that – moved quickly and constantly checked behind him. Aerrow was glad he had left Scar behind. The Monitor Lizard was a faithful companion and his help had been invaluable at times, but down here he would be more hindering than helpful, and Aerrow needed all the help he could get.

Concentrating hard, he followed the Reaper around every turn. Briefly, he passed a junction where at the end of the side tunnel, he saw daylight. He marked the junction with one of his rock arrows, before setting off after the Reaper once more. The entire time a single thought invaded his head. _He had to find Clarke._

Suddenly, Aerrow came around a bend and saw nothing. The Reaper had simply vanished. _No! _he screamed inside his head _not now_

_Had to find Clarke…_

Then in the distance he saw the faint orange glow of the man's torch disappearing around a corner. He breathed a sigh of relief and set off in pursuit, moving as fast as he dared.

_Had to find her…_

He heard a serious of animalistic grunts around the corner. He hurried around it and there he saw her.

Her face was bloody, her hair a mess and she too was dressed in grounder clothes, but he would recognise her anywhere. Finally, he had found Clarke.

Despite the darkness of the tunnel and the even greater darkness in his heart, his eyes lit up at the sight of her. He felt something surge through him. Happiness? Relief? He didn't know. The last time he had felt such a strong emotion was… when he found out Sara was still alive, during the battle with the grounders.

At the same time though this was different. He was a changed man since that battle, and he no longer viewed the world in the same way, so while he was overjoyed at finding Clarke, he was unable to enjoy the feeling, to embrace it.

Right now though there was another problem to worry about. He might have found Clarke but by no means was she out of danger.

There were three Reapers converging on her from all sides. "no…" she whimpered, realising she was trapped "no no no… please!"

He had never seen her like this. She had always been so strong, so unafraid. Even when staring down the barrel of a full-on assault by the grounder army, she had kept her cool and fought them off. Right now though, she was scared. Totally, utterly scared. She looked so innocent, so helpless, in a way he had never seen her. In that moment, seeing her alone, trapped and terrified, he forgot his previous resolved emotions and his heart went fully and completely out to her.

He needed to act and he needed to act now. He felt the anger rise up in his chest again. He was so used to it by now it just felt normal.

He drew his swords and, with a cry of rage, charged towards the Reapers

_Clarke P.O.V_

Clarke whipped her head from left to right, desperately searching for a way to escape. She saw none. She saw the closest Reaper raise his axe and howl, and she saw her future.

Suddenly though, someone, a grounder, came charging out of the black and ploughed into the Reaper. At first she thought it was Anya, but once her eyes came into focus she realised that this grounder was a man.

She watched on as he wielded two shiny silver swords expertly in his hands, cutting two of the Reapers down in a brutal clash of blades.

All of a sudden, the third Reaper came at him from behind. Clarke watched on in horror as the Reaper grabbed the grounder's back and threw him against the side of the tunnel. The grounder hit the wall hard. He gasped in pain and collapsed to the ground. The Reaper stood over him and brought the end of his spear/axe hybrid weapon down. The grounder managed to grab the wooden shaft of the weapon and hold it clear of his throat, but only just.

The Reaper had the leverage though and slowly, the sharpened tip of the spear came closer and closer to the trapped grounders throat.

Clarke saw this as her opportunity to escape, but she didn't run. Her feet remained rooted to the ground. Her eyes were locked on the grounder that had come seemingly from nowhere and had saved her from an awful fate. She didn't know what made her do it, but she grabbed a rock from the ground and bashed it against the side of the Reapers head, knocking him off the grounder.

The Reaper then came at her. She tried to back away but found herself pressed against the wall of the tunnel. Just as the Reaper was about to lay his deformed hands on her, the tip of a sword exploded out through the front of his chest.

The Reaper howled briefly, before dropping to the ground, dead, revealing behind him the imposing outline of the grounder who had saved her life.

Clarke dropped to her knees, panting, her ordeal over, for now. She stared up at the grounder, who stood impassively in front of her. "Thank you" she breathed "thank you…"

The grounder stared back at her before eventually offering a single, slow nod of his head. She locked eyes with him for a moment, trying to come to terms with what had just happened and what to do next, before suddenly the man reached out to grab her hand "Come with me" he said roughly

Clarke hesitated. This grounder might have saved her life just before, but that didn't mean he wasn't planning to take it later on. "Wait" she said, finding strength in her voice once more "why did you save me"

The grounder stared at her. From behind his facemask, despite the gloom of the tunnel, Clarke saw his eyes flash with… something, something she couldn't identify. He sighed, before replying "Neither of us want to see you die"

Clarke stared wide eyed, trying to comprehend the meaning of his words. Maybe he mistook her for a member of his tribe or something. After all, she was wearing clothes which belonged to a grounder.

"Please, come with me" the grounder said. There was something familiar about his voice that she couldn't quite lay her finger on. There was also a sense of urgency and the faintest undertone of kindness in his voice. She quickly weighed up her options. Anya was nowhere to be seen and this grounder seemed to genuinely want to help her. Why exactly that was, she didn't yet know, but she needed his help to escape the labyrinth. Where she would go from there, she would decide when the time came.

She took a deep breath "ok" she said quietly

The grounder nodded her again before roughly grabbing her hand and leading her down one of the tunnels

They moved slowly and carefully, ever aware of the patrolling Reapers. The grounder seemed to know where they were going, and she was grateful for that

"Who are you?" she asked him suddenly, as they came to a halt before a corner in the tunnel. The grounder turned back to face her. His eyes were unreadable. She didn't know if he would even give her an answer

The grounder inhaled sharply and she thought he was about to say something when the echoes of footsteps and the flicker of a light came up the tunnel behind them. Clarke and the grounder turned as one to face it, expecting more Reapers to be coming around the corner at any moment. There was something odd about the light though. It was too bright to be from a fire.

Suddenly, 4 people came around the corner. They carried high-tech rifles with ghostly green laser sights and, bizzarely, they wore full body cover-alls and each had a breathing apparatus. These were not Reapers. These were soldiers.

They instantly saw the two standing in the tunnel and aimed their rifles at them

"Mountain Men…" Clarke breathed in horror. Mount Weather must have figured that she had managed to escape.

"Clarke Griffin, you're coming with us" one of the soldiers spoke in perfect English.

One of the other soldiers aimed their green laser sight squarely on the grounder's chest and pulled the trigger.

He was too slow though. With lightning fast reflexes, the grounder yanked both himself and Clarke around the corner, avoiding the spray of bullets that burst forth from the soldiers' rifles.

"we need to move, now!" he told her, urgently "do you trust me?"

Clarke had no answer. She couldn't trust him. She had only just met him. She shocked herself then when she gave him a small, quick nod

"Ok" he said "now lets go"

The two of them took off down the tunnel, with the Mountain Men in hot pursuit.

Bullets flew everywhere. The soldiers were fast but the grounder and Clarke were faster. At every turn they were just far enough ahead of the Mountain Men to avoid a bullet to the head.

"what are we doing?" Clarke shouted desperately as they ran

"I- I don't know" the grounder shouted back between breaths "we can't fight them"

"They can't breathe this air" Clarke told him "they can't stay out here forever"

"well then we outrun them" he replied quickly

They shot around another corner and there in front of them, gloriously, was the light of day. They both stopped briefly, thanking god they had made it out, when suddenly a bullet whistled past them, narrowly missing Clarke's head and instead impacting with one of the rotting wooden beams that held the roof of the tunnel up. They whirled around instantly. The soldiers had caught up with them.

Both stood dead still, both of them knew that the exit was too far away. They would never make it in time. Now they were completely out of options.

"I saw everything" Clarke spoke up loudly and defiantly "I know what you're doing to them"

"Which is why you're going into the harvest chamber with them" the soldier replied

Clarke was rendered speechless. Dread filled her thoughts as she imagined herself being held upside down in suspended animation as her very blood was drained from her. She heard the grounder growl beside her. He would surely share the same fate.

"Give up Clarke. You have nowhere left to go" the soldier continued

"Neither do you" the grounder said suddenly, spinning around suddenly and swinging his sword at the creaking wooden beam, cleaving it in two. He yanked Clarke with him and they sprinted for the exit of the tunnel.

They got there just as the roof of the tunnel collapsed, burying the four unfortunate soldiers alive.

Clarke collapsed to the ground and just lay there, breathing in the sweet fresh air and relishing the feeling of sunlight on her face again.

She heard her rescuer crash onto the ground beside her, breathing heavily.

She allowed herself to smile in joy.

She had survived the horrors of the tunnels.

She had escaped the prison of Mount Weather.

**This chapter and the ones following it were immense fun to write. I did like Clarke and Anya escaping together in the show, but unfortunately for the context of my story, I needed her to escape with Aerrow, and I just thought it would be really cool if she didn't know who it really was who saved her from the Reapers. I worked really hard to try and keep Clarke's mentality the same as it is in the show, rather than just have her brainlessly work with an unknown (to her knowledge) grounder. If Aerrow is going to make her trust him in his disguise, he's going to have to work for it. This is explored more in the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter was so much fun to write! Simply because it deals with the interaction between Aerrow and Clarke, except Clarke doesn't know it is Aerrow, which for me personally, is so much fun to explore!**

_Aerrow P.O.V_

Aerrow collapsed to the ground beside Clarke, taking deep breaths as he struggled to get fresh oxygen back into his lungs. He felt his chest burn with fatigue. That was the bad thing about growing up in space, where everything, including oxygen, was effectively rationed: you could never build up any fitness. Walking was ok, but running was ultra tiring and even though he had steadily built up his fitness since landing, his body couldn't keep up with the demands he was putting on it. He needed to slow down.

Right now it didn't matter. He had escaped the tunnels and with the mountain men barricaded in, he had time to recover. He rolled over onto his back and stole a glance at Clarke, who was also collapsed on the ground trying to get her breath back.

She was just as he remembered. Her green-blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight and her long, wavy, white-ish blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and spread out on the ground around her. He cared not for the dirt and grime spread over her face and hair though. Even the grounder clothes she was wearing accentuated her appearance. She looked tougher, like she had truly transitioned to life on the ground.

While she may have looked the same, he could tell she was changed.

As she sat up, he could see the tension she carried in her shoulders and the blank, emotionless look on her face. She had never looked like that before. She was serious, sure, but she still radiated light and happiness, and right now he could tell that that light had somehow been dimmed.

Thinking about the Reapers, he suddenly remembered that, while they had time, they didn't have huge amounts of it.

"we need to keep moving" he said as he got back to his feet "we have to get away from this place" his voice was tinged in a certain sadness as he said it. He wasn't scared of many things, but he plain didn't like being near the Reapers. Their appearance, their inhuman howls, their cannibalistic lifestyle, it chilled him to his core.

"Ok" Clarke said distantly. Her body groaned in protest and she stood up. He began walking off, back in the direction of the camp, but she didn't follow him straight away

"I didn't ask before, but I need to know now" she said to him. He could tell from the icy harshness in her voice that she still didn't trust him "who are you?"

Aerrow froze. He contemplated telling her the truth, taking off his facemask and revealing to her his true identity. Every fibre of his body was begging him to. Things may have ended badly between them, but he still cared deeply for her.

He forced his feelings down. How he felt didn't matter anymore. She could never know he was still alive. Her thinking he was dead was better than her knowing what he'd done since she last saw him. He would take her back to the camp, sure. But she could never know it was him.

"My name is Xavier" he said quietly, facing away from her

"why are you helping me?" she asked again, but this time she needed a proper answer. He realised She couldn't trust him until he gave her reason to. After all, the grounders had sought only to kill her and her friends. Why one of them would suddenly want to help her would be a very strange thing indeed.

"you said that neither of us want to see me die" she pressed on "was does that mean?"

Aerrow was silent for a moment. He wanted so badly to tell her the truth, but he knew he couldn't. he didn't know how else to explain himself though, and there was his problem.

"what it means" he began "is that our people have killed too many of the other. Its time for change"

"How do I know you're not going to kill me later on?" Clarke demanded, her face hard.

Aerrow sighed and clenched his fist, unseen by her. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"If I wanted to kill you I would have already" he told her, unintentionally letting his anger and impatience seep into his already rough voice

He could tell she still wasn't convinced, so he unslung the sword holsters over his back and tossed them to her. "if it makes you feel better" he said impassively

There was a rustling in the bushes nearby and both he and Clarke tensed in anticipation of an attack, only to have a black and white Monitor Lizard scurry out of them and run over to him

"Hey buddy" Aerrow whispered to Scar as the Lizard took up his customary spot on his shoulder.

"The sun will be setting soon" He said roughly, facing Clarke "We need to move. If you don't trust me, then leave now, but for your sake, I advise you to come with me"

"why" Clarke asked, her cold tone fading, but still present

"Because I know how to get you your people's camp" he replied quickly and harshly, staring directly at her.

He saw the surprise wash across her face. She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out

"the Ark?" she eventually said in surprise.

Aerrow nodded firmly. He saw her weighing up her options. If she was as intelligent and rational as she was when he last saw her, he knew what she would choose

"Ok" she said eventually "I'll go with you" 

_Clarke P.O.V_

The two moved through the forest at a surprisingly fast and steady pace.

As she followed behind him, Clarke found herself studying the grounder's - Xavier's - body language. He moved through the trees with purpose, concentrating intently on where he was going. He also seemed to be deliberately trying to ignore her presence, to shut her out. She didn't exactly know why. For someone so intent on rescuing her, he was actually quite cold and distant. Granted, all the grounders she knew were like that and she had only just met him but, she didn't know, she found herself almost expecting him to be concentrating on her more than he was.

He reminded her of Lincoln in a way. She was very acutely aware of how Lincoln had protected Octavia when he first met her, and what had happened between those two after that... Clarke had no intention of such a thing happening to her. If Xavier was telling the truth and he was going to take her back to where the Ark had crash landed, then her only goal was rescuing her friends still trapped in Mount Weather.

As she walked, her mind dwelled on her friends that weren't trapped. She knew Finn was dead. She had seen his body when she exited the drop ship before being captured. He had been speared through the chest, far enough away to avoid the fire.

Her thoughts turned to Bellamy and Aerrow. She had seen a skeleton with Aerrow's staff clutched in the bones of its hand, and she initially believed it to be Aerrow's skeleton, but then she remembered that the last person to use it had been… Sara. There was no definitive evidence that Aerrow and Bellamy were indeed dead, but there was no evidence at all to suggest they were alive. Still, she allowed herself to hope. She had to hope they were still alive, just as she had to hope she could rescue her friends. If she lost hope, she lost her fight.

The sun began to set, illuminating the sky in a brilliant painting of reds, pinks and oranges. Clarke marvelled at the contrast of how the land could be so cruel and harsh and deadly, but it could also be so beautiful. She had always dreamed of seeing a sunset when she was on the Ark, but the real thing was infinitely more spectacular than anything she could dream up. For the first time in days, she allowed herself to relax a little

As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness began to take hold of them, the two stumbled across the ruins of an old house. It had no windows and the door had been blasted in at some point, but it still had walls and, crucially, a still standing roof over the top of it.

"We rest here for the night" Xavier said. It was the first thing he'd said since they started walking.

"No, we should keep moving" Clarke replied stubbornly. Now that she knew the Ark was out there, she wanted only to get there. She cared little for how tired she was.

"I said we rest here" Xavier responded sharply. Clarke was taken aback by the harshness in his voice. He seemed to realise this and softened his voice "These woods… its not safe at night"

Clarke sighed, before reluctantly unslinging his swords – which she had held onto the entire time – and the two of them headed inside.

Xavier got a fire going quickly and told her to stay where she was until he came back. He left her with one of his swords while he took the other to obviously go off and find some food.

Clarke busied herself inspecting the house. Everything was covered in dust and had obviously been in existence during or before the war. She wandered around the kitchen. The drawers still had plates, cups and cutlery. In a frame on a wall was a picture of a family. A mother, father and three children, none of which could have been older than 10. A deep sadness filled Clarke as she held the picture in her hands. These people had lived happy lives before the war, but that all changed when the bombs fell. She knew death was inevitable, but for these people it had come far too soon, just like it had for so many of her friends.

Clarke shivered as the room was filled with a sudden chill – real or imaginary, even she didn't know – so she sat next to the fire for warmth. Alone in a derelict house, she admitted to herself to feeling a little scared. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rocked back and forth to try and find some comfort for herself. She thought about taking off, and trying to find the Ark on her own, but her better judgement made her realise she would most likely only get herself killed. She knew first hand that not everything in the forest was friendly.

Eventually, Xavier returned, carrying the carcass of a rabbit over his shoulder. He crouched down impassively and silently began gutting and skinning the rabbit.

Clarke watched as he pulled its intestines out. Only a few weeks previously, she would have been disgusted and looked away, but the ground has brutal. She had to adapt and realise that this was life. She was completely used to it now.

"I can do that… if you want" she said quietly as she reached her hand out to take the Rabbit. She was trying to break the silence more than anything else.

Xavier paused, and looked at her with hard, dark eyes. She slowly pulled her hand back and he went back to his work. Soon, the rabbit was roasting over the fire.

They ate solemnly on opposite sides of the fire, just staring silently into the flickering flames. Occasionally Xavier would throw a scrap of meat to his reptilian companion but everything was otherwise still.

"So… what happened to you?" Clarke spoke up eventually

"what?" Xavier responded, surprised she'd even asked a question it seemed like

"there must be something that happened to cause you to do this, to feel the way you do about our two people" she pressed on

Xavier stared at her from behind his facemask. There was something in his eyes that she recognised, but she wasn't sure what. They were still dark but they were softer than when they were in the tunnels, or walking through the forest for that matter. She wondered what he was like underneath that facemask. Did he have a tribe? Friends? Family? She had no idea. The grounders' lifestyle was a complete mystery to her

Xavier took a deep breath before answering "someone I cared about was killed in the battle between our people" he spoke slowly and distantly, almost as if he was choosing his words carefully "she didn't need to die, but she did"

There was silence

"we don't need to be at war" he continued "Those lives didn't need to be taken. I just wish that…" he trailed off and looked away. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she caught the faintest glimpse of tears forming in his eyes, something she thought was impossible for a grounder.

"that we could start over" she finished for him

"yeah" he said quietly

Clarke was slightly in awe. She never knew the grounders, even Lincoln, could be so genuine. This one was though. Why was he so different to all the others?

"what about you? Whats your story?" He asked suddenly, taking her by surprise with a question of his own. She hadn't been expecting that.

"Well, um…" she began, thinking quickly to try and explain things in a way that he could understand

"I was born in space. I'd lived there my whole life, until a few weeks ago when me along with the rest of the juvenile prisoners were sent to the ground. It was… great at first, really great, but then I made a mistake"

"what was that?" Xavier asked.

She hesitated before answering "I fell in love"

Xavier said nothing.

"I fell in love a guy named Aerrow. Aerrow Eroxin" she continued

"Naja?" Xavier spoke up suddenly.

"you know who he is?" she asked, surprised by the fact that he had heard of Aerrow. Apparently meaning 'Cobra', _Naja _was the name given to Aerrow by the grounders. Supposedly he was the centre of one of their prophecies, a warrior who came down from the sky and fought battles both for and against the grounders.

"I never saw him, but I heard stories of how skilled a warrior he was"

"yeah well… I thought he loved me too, but then he left me for someone else" she said sourly, remembering the burning heartbreak she felt when she realised that Aerrow loved Sara more "Obviously I wasn't good enough for him or something"

Xavier was silent for a moment

"Maybe he thought you were too good for him?" He spoke up suddenly but quietly. Clarke made to say something but she stopped herself. She'd never thought about it that way before.

"Clarke, this life… the life of a warrior…" Xavier continued, his voice distant and tinged with sadness "It's a lonely path to take. We must avoid love, because at any moment that person could be taken away from us. It's a terrible life to live, and I wouldn't wish it upon you, or anyone else"

With that, he turned away and lay down on his improvised bedding, made out of moss and leaves.

Clarke remained seated. She stared intently at him. She felt something growing for him. It certainly wasn't love. It was respect. The grounder was insightful and intelligent. What's more was that, despite his tough exterior and his denial of love, he was _caring_. As she lay down to go to sleep herself, her eyes remained fixated on him. She was inexplicably drawn to him. Eventually, her fatigue overwhelmed her swirling thoughts and she too drifted off to sleep.

_Aerrow P.O.V_

Quite a while later, after Clarke had fallen asleep, Aerrow was still wide awake. Satisfied that Clarke was asleep, he took the uncomfortable facemask off and stared up at the ceiling. His mind was very much focussed on his conversation with her earlier that night.

Everything he had said, he had genuinely meant. But what about what she had said? He looked down at her sleeping figure. She looked so peaceful. The last time he had looked at her like this was when they were together. For a moment, he was able to forget about everything they had been through and just focus on her.

He played with the yellow feather in his braid of hair. He twirled it in front of his face. While it reminded him of all the good times he had shared with Sara, it also reminded him of how much he had hurt Clarke in the process. He now understood why she felt like she said, and why she had said those things about him. That was what he was afraid of, and that was why she could never know he was still alive.

For now though, he was happy just to be around her again. He lay back down. In the distance, a Wolf howled. Scar crawled over and lay on top of his chest. Aerrow stared at his reptilian friend. The Monitor Lizard was a faithful companion, and Aerrow was thankful for his presence. The lizard may not have been able to talk, but Aerrow could see its intellect. It had thoughts, feelings, just like he did.

Aerrow suddenly noticed something. That anger in his chest that had been boiling away ever since that battle with the grounders. It wasn't there anymore. It had subsided. Aerrow suddenly felt light, released, like a huge suffocating weight had been lifted off his chest and now he could finally breathe again.

He inhaled deeply, savouring the cool night air. He no longer felt trapped by anger and rage. Here, now, in a derelict house with a Lace Monitor and the girl he loved, Aerrow felt free again.

The Wolf howled again, but this time Aerrow sat bolt upright, throwing Scar off his chest in the process.

That howl was a lot closer

_Clarke P.O.V_

"Clarke wake up!" a distant voice shouted

Clarke slowly blinked herself awake

"WAKE UP NOW!" the voice, Xavier's, shouted. It was much clearer this time

She heard the urgency in his voice and sat bolt upright immediately, now wide awake. Xavier stood in front of her holding a burning torch in one hand and a sword in his other. Behind him, his Lizard was facing the other direction. Its tail was coiled tightly around its body and it hissed loudly.

"what is it?" Clarke asked quickly

"Hunters" Xavier growled. It was at that moment that a bone chilling howl rang out through the trees. At first Clarke thought it was the Reapers but it was too high pitched. It wasn't coming from a human. It was coming from an animal.

Then she saw it

Emerging from the dark forest came a terrifying four legged animal. It looked vaguely like a wolf but its coat was jet black, shaggy and filthy. Its tail was twice as long as a wolf's was and it had 6 inch long sabre teeth. Clarke watched on in horror as 5 more of the terrifying animals stalked out after the first one.

This was a pack. And its members were out to kill.

As the Hunters approached the house, Xavier turned to face Clarke

"whatever happens you stay behind me" he told her quickly. She could hear the urgency and the fear in his own voice. Obviously these animals were deadly.

He gave her one of his swords. She took it in shaking hands and he then stood protectively in front of her as the Hunters launched their attack

_Aerrow P.O.V_

All thoughts of that nights earlier conversation had left Aerrow's head as he prepared himself to take on the 'hunters' as he had called them.

He had fought off two before but that was only two, and it was in the day. Now, against six, at night, with Clarke to protect, the tables had very much turned.

The Hunters stalked up to the front of the house before the smallest one – obviously an inexperienced animal – suddenly charged through the front door.

Aerrow stood his ground and as the hunter approached, he quickly sidestepped the charging animal and sliced his sword downwards, cleaving the animal's neck open, slicing its spinal cord in half. It dropped dead instantly. One down, five to go.

The Hunter's dead corpse came to a rolling stop just in front of Clarke as the biggest Hunter, the Alpha, bared its teeth and growled. A long, low, angry growl.

It ran for the door, followed by three others. The Alpha and two of its followers went for Aerrow, while the third went for Scar.

Aerrow sliced at them with his one sword. He managed to kill one of them, but the other two were fast, and dodged his swings. One time, he managed to slice the side of the Alpha's face, but that did nothing but enrage the animal even more.

Aerrow stole a glance at Scar. The big Lizard was holding his own against the larger Hunter, keeping the predator largely at bay with whips of his deadly tail.

Aerrow turned back just as the other Hunter launched itself at him. Reflexively, he brought his sword up and the unfortunate animal impaled itself on the end of his blade. Aerrow breathed a sigh of relief and let the animal simply drop off the end of his sword.

He turned around to see how Clarke was doing only to find himself staring straight into the jaws of the Alpha. The big animal had launched its own counter attack on him.

The Alpha slammed into Aerrow, forcing the teenager onto the ground. The Alpha stood over him, snapping at his throat with its mighty jaws and fearsome sabre teeth. Aerrow desperately tried to hold them clear but the animal was strong. It had knocked the sword from his grip and it now lay too far away for him to reach. He needed to think of something fast or else he'd be dead courtesy of two massive teeth jammed through his windpipe.

He looked to the other side and saw his flaming torch lying next to his hand. He quickly grabbed it and shoved it in the Alpha's face. The animal howled in agony as its hair caught fire and it started burning alive. The Alpha ran around the building, desperately trying to put out the flames that were devouring its body until eventually, it dropped to the ground and howled no more.

Scar meanwhile, landed a full force blow to the fifth Hunter's side, cracking its ribs and rupturing its internal organs. The animal squealed in pain and dropped to the ground, still alive but unable to move. Scar finished it off with a deadly bite to the throat.

Aerrow sighed in relief as he looked around at the dead Hunters. As he stared at their bodies though, he quickly realised that something was very, very wrong

He counted the bodies

_One, two, three, four, five…_

_Where was the sixth…?_

It was at that point that a terrible scream echoed from the other room

_Clarke! _Aerrow screamed at himself in horror

_Clarke P.O.V _

The Hunter stood in front of her. It bared its teeth and growled.

Clarke frantically looked around her for a way out. There was none. She was trapped and the Hunter knew it.

In the blink of an eye, it launched itself at her, knocked her to the ground and knocked the sword from her hand.

Clarke desperately recoiled from its snapping jaws and scrambled backwards across the floor to try and get away from the animal. She backed up against a wall and realised that, once again, she was trapped at a predator's mercy. The Hunter stood in front of her and growled. Both Clarke and the Hunter knew the truth. It had her

Suddenly though, she heard the sound of skin being punctured followed by the pained shriek coming from the hunter as it dropped off of her. Clarke looked up to see…

…Xavier.

He had thrown his remaining sword into the hunter's side. His eyes were utterly ablaze. Fire burned out of them and into her. She saw from the look in his eyes that_ he was never, ever, going to let her die._

The grounder advanced quickly on the already dying hunter. He yanked the sword from his hide and jammed it through its head, killing it instantly.

Clarke said nothing. That was the second time today Xavier had saved her. She let herself lean back against the wall. She closed her eyes in relief. Despite how strong she knew she had become, Clarke felt tears running down her cheeks.

…

They were up at first light. After the attack by the Hunters that night, Clarke had been unable to sleep one bit and she was thankful to feel the sun's rays on her face.

They left quickly and made good progress until eventually, by mid-afternoon, the Ark camp came into view

Clarke smiled in relief. She was only a mile or two away from home, from safety.

"this is where our journey ends, Clarke" Xavier said from behind her

She spun around to face him "what do you mean?" she asked, slightly surprised by what he had just said

He stared at her with those dark, piercing eyes, before eventually answering seriously "If I go near that camp, they will shoot me"

"why?"

"because I'm the enemy" he answered sadly "That's all they'll ever see me as. It's up to you to change that"

He stowed his swords in their holsters and turned to walk away "goodbye, Clarke" he said

"wait" she called out

He stopped and turned back around to face her

"I may never see you again" she said "at least let me see your face"

_Aerrow P.O.V_

"Wait" he heard her call out from behind him. He turned back around to face her one more time, to get a glimpse of that beautiful face one more time.

"I may never see you again" she said "At least let me see your face"

Aerrow froze. He had no idea what to do. He had convinced himself that she must never know he was still alive but now he found himself questioning that belief. He recalled their conversation about him last night. Maybe he did have a second chance, maybe he could redeem himself. Of course, the potential consequences of revealing himself could be catastrophic when she found out what he'd done, but that was a risk he had to take. He simply loved her too much to not let her know.

Slowly, reluctantly, his hands went to his facemask. He slowly began removing it. He saw Clarke's eyes widen slightly in anticipation of seeing who it was who saved her life. Just as he was about to remove it however, he felt something whistle through the air and impact his neck.

His hand went immediately to his neck and he pulled out what had hit him immediately. He held it in front of his face and immediately realised it was a dart. A tranquilising dart. He quickly looked in the direction it came from and saw two figures in bodysuits and breathing apparatus'. Mountain men.

He suddenly felt very tired as the tranquiliser kicked in. His legs gave out from under him and he collapsed to the ground.

"Xavier!" he heard Clarke cry out as she dropped to her knees beside him. She hadn't been hit. Yet.

"Clarke run!" he shouted at her

"no, I won't leave you to them" she replied quickly

"It's the mountain men. If they catch you they will kill you" he said urgently "NOW RUN!"

Clarke reluctantly got back to her feet and sprinted for the safety of the camp. Aerrow watched her go and as the two mountain men stood over him, relief washed over him as he knew she had escaped.

"leave her" he heard one of them say as his vision darkened "we have this one"

Then he blacked out

…

_Aerrow's unconscious body was lain down on a table for examination_

_A dark haired woman in a doctor's lab coat and an older, grey haired man examined his body_

"_harvest, or Cerberus?" the woman asked him._

_The old man stared intently at the teenager's prone body for several moments_

"_Cerberus" he said slowly_

_The doctor and one of her aides lifted up his body and began carrying it to the lower level_

"_Wait!" another female voice called out_

_Both the doctor and the old man turned and faced the owner of the voice in surprise _

"_I have a better idea" the other woman said, staring at Aerrow intensely. "this one is special"_

_Aerrow's arms were tied together and his unconscious body was carried through a door and into an elevator, where it began moving down, into the dark depths of the facility. Beside the door to the elevator, there was a sign._

_It read: 'Mount Weather quarantine facility A, Restricted access – Ares project'_

**Oh no! what's going to happen to Aerrow now? Will he ever be reunited with Clarke and be able to tell her how he really feels about her? All will be revealed soon. What I'll say now is that the next few chapters have been immensely fun to write so far. Anyway, as always, hope you guy liked this chapter. I seem to be getting much more positive feedback for this story than I did with 'Closer To The Edge' as it means, hopefully, that I'm improving as a writer, which is just awesome, so thanks guys for all your positive feedback. Love you all!**


	10. Chapter 10

Clarke stumbled towards the gate to the camp. Night had fallen, her legs were weak and wobbly from running and she still carried something of a heavy heart for Xavier, who was no doubt having his blood drained at that very moment. It didn't matter now though. Now, at last, she was home.

She made her way out of the cover of the trees and headed for the gate when suddenly BANG! A gunshot rang out and her right shoulder exploded in blood.

Pain gripped her, expanding out from her shoulder. She dropped to her knees and desperately cupped the wound to try and stop the bleeding. She brought her hand in front of her face. She saw the red blood, _her blood, _covering it, and it was then that she realised: _she had been shot. By her own people._

Clarke whipped her head around at the sound of footsteps approaching her. She saw a unit of guards rush through the gate and begin to move towards her. She suddenly realised she was still dressed like a grounder. With the blood, sweat and dirt covering her face and hair, she looked like one too. Xavier had been right. She was just lucky the guard had a poor aim.

The first guard reached her and immediately slammed the butt of his rifle against her head. She fell to the ground, almost knocked unconscious.

Satisfied that she no longer posed a threat, the guards picked her up and carried her through the gate and into the compound.

"how many of you are there?" the lead guard demanded. Clarke couldn't answer even if she wanted too. She was concussed from the blow to her head and too weary to speak.

A crowd quickly gathered as the guards brought her towards the central compound. When they saw the state she was in, they screwed their faces up in disgust and began moving away. Clarke could only let her head hang low. This was what she had been reduced to in her people's minds.

"Wait!" a female voice suddenly called out

"Once the prisoner is secure-" the lead guard began

"she's not a prisoner" the other voice said. It sounded familiar but Clarke was too weak to identify its owner.

She felt the guards carrying her stop and saw someone crouch down in front of her. They cupped her cheeks in their hands and slowly, gently, lifted her head up. Clarke found herself staring not into the hard face of a guard, but into the soft, caring eyes of someone she knew very well: her mother, Abby

"She's my daughter" Abby said softly

"Mom?" Clarke said in disbelief

Abby smiled in relief and threw her arms around her daughter. Clarke was alive. Despite the hell she had obviously been through, her daughter had survived.

Abby quickly ordered the guards to take her into the medical tent so she could tend to her wounds. They laid her down on one of the beds before Abby then ordered them to leave.

"I need saline and a pressure dressing" Abby told her loyal assistant, Jackson, who immediately went looking for the supplies

"I saw your ship crash…" Clarke breathed, still coming to terms with the situation. She thought her mother had been killed in a failed exodus ship crash, yet here she was. While Clarke was confused, she was relieved beyond belief that Abby was still alive. She was not alone anymore.

"I wasn't on it" Abby said soothingly "I'm right here"

Clarke winced as Abby began cleaning the scratches on her face inflicted by the Hunter the previous night. Abby put the bloody cloth down just as the same guard who nearly knocked her daughter out walked gingerly into the room

"Is she alright?" asked the guard

"She will be" Abby replied somewhat sourly. She didn't exactly approve of the guards' 'shoot first, ask questions later' method. If they had been less – or more – accurate, she might not have been speaking to her daughter right now.

"I'm sorry ma'am we had no idea who she was" the guard explained, before facing Clarke "where have you been?" the man asked

"Willis" Abby interjected. Her daughter had just been shot, she certainly didn't need to be interrogated by the same man

"Mount Weather" Clarke spoke up

The guard, Willis, paused briefly, before continuing "the grounders took you to Mount Weather?"

"No, the Mountain Men" Clarke winced as she propped herself up on her elbows "we have to get them out"

"We're not doing this right now" Abby firmly interrupted. Her priority was tending to her daughters wounds

"yes ma'am" the guard said obediently, before turning and exiting the tent

Abby turned her attention back to Clarke "Its ok" she began

"Mom" Clarke said suddenly. She cared not for her mother's affection at this stage. She had just one, burning question that she desperately needed to know the answer to "did anyone else make it here?"

"Yes, six of you did" Abby answered softly

Clarke closed her eyes and sighed in relief. She needed to know if two people in particular had made it to the camp "Aerrow and Bellamy?" she asked hopefully

Abby said nothing. Obviously those two people in particular were close to her daughter. Just how close she didn't know but just judging from the desperate tone of Clarke's voice, she cared about them. Abby flashed back to Aerrow's massacre of the guards a few days previously. Clarke didn't need to know about that and Abby considered lying, and saying that Aerrow hadn't made it, but she decided for now that her daughter just need to be happy, so she nodded in confirmation.

Relief flooded through Clarke. Aerrow and Bellamy, two of the people she cared most about, were alive.

"I thought they were dead" She breathed in relief. "I thought you were dead"

Her ordeal of escaping the clutches of Mount Weather, combined with the relief that not one, but three people she cared about, people she was sure were dead, were still alive was too much for her to bear, and she felt tears forming in her eyes. There, bloody, dirty and tired beyond belief, Clarke broke down and sobbed in her mother's arms.

…

Light. Dazzling white light filled his vision as Aerrow blinked himself awake. He wasn't sure if he was awake or still dreaming. He remembered getting shot with a tranquiliser by who Clarke had called the 'Mountain Men'. He also vaguely recalled telling her to run, before collapsing unconscious. What happened next he had no idea. Whatever was in it, the tranquiliser was powerful. While he was out he had had wild visions of either Clarke, Arianna or Sara. They played over and over in his head, tormenting him, like a nightmare he couldn't escape.

The light was blinding. He went to move his hand up to shield his eyes but couldn't. He looked to his side and saw his hands were shackled to the bed he lay on. He was definitely awake. And he was trapped.

He immediately tested the bonds but they held strong and tight around his wrists. He grunted in frustration and let his head fall back into the pillow on the bed. He took several slow, deep breaths to try to calm himself but it didn't work. He just kept picturing Clarke's face, and the look of terror in her eyes when he was shot and she saw the Mountain Men approaching. She had obviously been a prisoner here too, which meant the rest of the 100 were likely to be trapped here too. Why that was, he had no idea. But he was still alive, which meant they needed him for something.

He took a closer look at his surroundings. He was in a clear room, only the bed in the middle. The walls, ceiling and floor were entirely white. His clothes were different, instead of the filthy grounder clothes, he was now dressed in a close fitting, lightweight black material. On closer inspection, it had flecks of silver in it and was surprisingly comfortable.

His swords were nowhere to be seen, neither was Scar. He still had the yellow feather in his braid at least.

Suddenly, the door handle creaked and moved. Aerrow instantly sat bolt upright as the door opened and an elderly, grey haired man walked in to the room followed by a man dressed in a white shirt and a blue vest. Aerrow noted the pistol at his side. He was obviously a guard, and the grey haired man was surely a leader of some sort.

Aerrow kept an angry glare as he approached.

"Greetings, Mr Eroxin" he spoke slowly in an even tone. His voice was aged, but it still radiated intellect "It's good to see you're awake at last"

Aerrow glared up at the man, though he was careful not to look _too _threatening "how do you know my name?" he growled

The man didn't answer straight away. Instead, he eyed Aerrow cautiously, debating on how much of the truth he should tell the captive teenager, if any of the truth at all.

"we have our ways" he said carefully

"where am I?" Aerrow asked in a low tone. Everything about this was suspicious. He didn't trust this man at all.

"Mount Weather" the man told him. He motioned for his guard to take off Aerrow's wrist restraints. The guard paused, before undoing the leather straps. Aerrow held his left hand in front of him, waving the fingers around before tightening them into a fist. He looked back at the man.

"why did you bring me here?" he asked

The man paused. He took a few moments to choose his words carefully before answering "you are here, Aerrow, because you are incredibly important to us"

Aerrow looked away, trying to process this new information. Mount Weather. That's where he was. Where Clarke had been kept and where the others probably still were. It was here that the 100 were originally meant to be dropped. Unlike the grounders, these people were civilised, and highly technologically advanced. Was it possible that the people of the Ark knew people were living in the mountain and had been communicating all this time? He had no idea. Right now though, he only had one goal. He just needed to wait for the right time…

"My name is Dante Wallace" the man said, extending his hand towards Aerrow. Aerrow glanced at his hand, feigning confusion, as if he didn't know what to do. Slowly, he brought his own hand up towards Dante's.

He didn't shake his hand though.

Quick as a flash, Aerrow grabbed Dante's arm and span the older man around. He was on his feet in an instant. The guard immediately brought up his gun but Aerrow was faster. He moved behind Dante and put his arm around the old man's neck, pressing his forearm into Dante's throat. He glared at the guard with laser focussed, angry eyes.

"thank you for letting me go" he hissed into Dante's ear, before shoving him into the guard, knocking both men over. Aerrow meanwhile, raced for the exit.

He shot out through the door and found himself in a corridor. He had no idea where he was, he just knew that he needed to escape, and fast. The guard would be calling for back-up any-

Alarms began to ring in the corridor, accompanied by several flashing red lights. Aerrow had to move fast before more guards arrived. He had two choices. At either end of the corridor was a staircase, one going up, one going down. Aerrow chose the one going up. His reasoning was simple. If he was underground, he just had to head up and eventually he would reach the surface.

He ran over and yanked a piece of metal from the wall to give himself a bo-staff. He twirled the metal in his fingers and smiled. This was the weapon that he learnt to fight with. The familiarity of holding it was surprisingly comforting and satisfying. It might not have been as light or well balanced as his original coandite weapon, but given the circumstances, this would do just fine. Staff in hand, he raced up the stairwell

He moved fast. The alarm continued to ring as he sprinted through the corridors, left… right… left… up another staircase.

He rounded a corner only to find himself face to face with two guards. Spinning and twirling his staff, he took the guards down with two single, precise blows with his staff, one to the head, one to the abdomen.

He kept moving. He thought about trying to find the others, if they were even in the mountain also, but he quickly discounted the thought. It would take too much time and time was what he didn't have. He had to escape, then figure out what to do next.

At last, he came around another junction and there in front of him was the large, pressurised door that could only lead back outside. He rushed towards it and tried to spin the flywheel keeping the door shut, but it was sealed tight. Thinking quickly, he jammed his staff into the spokes and used it as a lever. Groaning with effort, he slowly began to turn the flywheel, until eventually it span open easily.

Aerrow then raced over to a lever on the side that obviously opened the door. He grabbed it and allowed himself a small smile, he was about to yank the lever down and complete his escape when he heard a whistling noise cut through the air before the loud clang of metal on metal.

He froze instantly, before turning his head to the side to look at the lever. Embedded in the metal, just centimetres below his hand was a black, beautifully machined and wickedly sharp shuriken throwing star. It still quivered slightly from the impact.

Aerrow slowly turned around to see who threw it.

There, standing 20 metres away from him in the corridor was a woman.

She looked about the same age as him, maybe a year or two older. She had jet black, shoulder length hair and penetrating, ice cool silver eyes. She wore the same, figure hugging black-silver outfit as he did. She had a slender, lithe body with long legs and a look of overall calm yet sinister beauty. She had the appearance of an assassin, which was only accentuated by the long bladed samurai sword which she had drawn from a holster on her back.

Aerrow was momentarily taken aback by her appearance, but he quickly returned to reality. He yanked his staff from the flywheel, strode forward and engaged her.

He threw strike after strike but it quickly became apparent that this woman was more than a match for him. She moved with perfect smoothness and fluidity as she effortlessly blocked and parried his swings.

Aerrow was caught off guard. Never had he met an opponent that was better than him in a one on one fight, yet he kept going, kept aiming strike after strike at her, his desire to escape keeping him going.

Soon though, the exertion of what he had put his body through in the past few days began to show. He was breathing hard, and his swings became slower and less focussed. The woman on the other hand wasn't even trying. She had barely broken a sweat as she quickly got the upper hand.

In the blink of an eye, she ducked under one of Aerrow's swings, wound her sword around his staff and flicked it, disarming him instantly. She wasted no time ducking a punch and moving behind him, where she then quickly and calmly jabbed a syringe into his neck and Aerrow instantly lost consciousness once again

…

It was mid-morning when Clarke finally woke up. Her body was exhausted from the exertion of the past 48 hours and she welcomed the chance to sleep.

She felt a pressure on her left leg. She looked down and saw her mother, also asleep, resting her head against her thigh. Clarke's movements stirred her and she looked up. Her eyes looked tired but at the same time Clarke could see the joy in them, at finding her daughter once more.

As for Clarke herself, she was still confused as to how all this had happened. Abby explained to her that the previous Chancellor, Thelonius Jaha, hadn't made it to Earth and that Kane was currently trying to make peace with the grounders and get her friends back.

"I already told you, the grounders don't have us" Clarke told her mother. She looked around, noticing the time of day "how long have I been asleep?"

"about 10 hours" Abby said casually

Clarke scoffed slightly and sat up, despite Abby's requests for her to stay where she was

"we need to move against Mount Weather" she told her mother "how many guards do we have? Where are Aerrow and Bellamy?" she found it slightly odd that they hadn't paid her a visit yet, but then again she and Bellamy weren't exactly harmonious leaders and Aerrow… well… she didn't know how she felt about him, after what he did to her, or how he felt about her.

"Clarke please!" Abby said sternly "you need to rest"

"I don't need to rest, I'm fine" Clarke replied quickly. Obviously her mother didn't realise she wasn't the same kid she was on the Ark. "And I don't need you to protect me. What I need is to save my friends"

She grunted in pain as she eased herself back onto her feet. It was then that a guard, the same one from the night before, came into the room "movement, in the north woods" he told Abby

"grounders?" Abby asked

"I don't think so" the guard replied, shaking his head slightly

Clarke dressed quickly and walked out of the medical tent. The first person she saw was Raven, sitting just outside.

Joy flooded through her as she went over to greet her friend. She was sure that the brown haired girl would have been killed courtesy of the bullet in her back, but obviously the people of the Ark had found her in time and had been able to save her, though at a price as Clarke stared at the brace on her left leg

"Raven… I-" she said awkwardly, struggling for words

"Sucks, but, I'm dealing with it" Raven shrugged, smiling

Clarke then turned her attention to the gate, where a group of people were returning from a scouting mission or something. She expected it to be Kane and some guards, but as she looked closer she saw that these people weren't guards. She saw a girl covered in dirt who she couldn't recognise, but she also saw Octavia, Monroe and-

"Bellamy" Clarke breathed, recognising the black curly hair and well muscled physique of her fellow leader. A smile broke out on her face as she turned and looked at Raven

"go, I'll catch up" the mechanic told her

Clarke needed no further encouragement and she began hurrying over to the returning group. As she got closer to broke into a run. She practically sprinted up to Bellamy and threw her arms around him in joy. Bellamy was taken aback at first but then he hugged her back tightly.

It surprised her a little that she was _this _happy to see him, but she ignored it. She was just happy to have her friend back. They separated eventually and Clarke then went over and hugged Octavia. "I'm glad you're ok" Octavia whispered in her ear

"you too" Clarke replied

"How many are with you?" Bellamy asked hopefully

"None" Clarke replied as Raven joined them. She saw some of the happiness leave Bellamy's face as she said it. It was then that Clarke realised that something was wrong

"where's Aerrow?" she asked Bellamy. She may have had undecided feelings for him, but she desperately wanted to see him again.

Bellamy froze. He remembered what Aerrow told him, about telling Clarke he was dead, but looking at her now, so full of rejuvenated hope, there was nothing more he wanted to tell her than the truth, that Aerrow was still out there, looking for her. Eventually, he forced himself to make his choice.

He shook his head sadly "he's gone" he said quietly

Now it was his turn to see that hopeful happiness drain from Clarke's face.

She didn't want to believe it. She tried to convince herself that Bellamy was wrong. She'd thought she'd lost Aerrow in the past, but this time was different. She looked in Bellamy's eyes and realised that he was telling the truth, and this time there was no escaping from it.

Aerrow Eroxin was dead

…

Aerrow awoke with a start

There was a surprising sense of familiarity. He was in the same room as before, on the same bed, except this time his hands were unrestrained. He appeared to be alone. He bit his lip in thought. Who was that woman? How could she have beaten him?

"Wakey Wakey" a smooth, female voice suddenly spoke up from behind him

Aerrow whipped his head around to see who it was. To his surprise, it was that same woman who had beaten him in the corridor. She sat cross legged on a chair behind him. Her sword was propped up on the wall next to her.

Aerrow froze. Now that he had had a good look at her, she looked even more like an assassin. She stared directly at him, her piercing silver eyes froze him where he sat. her head was slightly cocked to one side, almost as if she was slightly amused by him.

"who are you?" he spoke eventually

The woman straightened her head "my name is Alexis" she said coolly. Her voice was as smooth, calm and solid as her movements. No trace of an accent.

"Alexis" Aerrow repeated. he stared at her, contemplating his next move. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that the door was slightly open. Could he risk escaping again?

He rubbed his neck where she had stabbed him with the syringe "that stuff you injected me with. What was that?" he breathed. He figured it was better to gain some information from her before trying anything else

Alexis reached into a pocket in her pants. She pulled out a small tube. Inside the tube were several small, dark blue pills. She held the tube casually in front of her "a liquid version of a drug called DM13" she told him.

"DM13?"

"It means 'Death Mimic'" she answered for him "we developed it as a tranquiliser for the outsiders. It is a sedative but it also hyper oxygenates the blood, slowing a person's heart and breathing rate to 1 a minute, hence mimicking death"

Aerrow noted this information carefully. He opened his mouth to say something but Alexis beat him to it.

"where did you learn to fight like that?" she asked him, her voice still smooth and ice cool "your technique, especially with such an improvised weapon, it was… impressive" she played on the last word, hanging on to it, almost seeming to deliberately emphasise it.

Aerrow held his even stare at her. He debated on how to answer "I taught myself" he said simply

Alexis almost seemed surprised by his answer. She raised an eyebrow at his answer. "interesting" she said slowly

"why am I here?" Aerrow asked suddenly, changing the topic

Alexis stared straight at him "like president Wallace said: you're incredibly important to us" she answered, winking at him as she said it. Her tone of voice did not go un-noticed by Aerrow. There was something in her voice… She wanted something, and he couldn't help but wonder if it was him.

"and what's your interest in me?" he asked carefully

"My interest in you" Alexis said as she stood up and began walking slowly over to him "is that it is my job to train you"

Aerrow stood up quickly as she approached him. He stared at her evenly, not giving anything away. They stood eye to eye

"And what makes you think that I'll let you?" Aerrow asked, keeping his voice even

"Because…" Alexis began, before suddenly shooting her arm out, wrapping it around Aerrow's while at the same time kicking his leg out and pivoting, throwing his centre of gravity off.

Aerrow was on the ground in an instant. Alexis was on top of him. He was acutely aware of how her leg was pressed up against his inner thigh. She leaned down, as if she was about to-

"I'm better than you are" she whispered sexily in his ear, before getting off him.

Aerrow slowly and ever so slightly shakily got back to his feet. He never took his eyes off her, both out of caution and curiosity. He was still totally unsure of how to react to her demeanour. She gestured off to her side. Aerrow looked to where her hand was pointing and saw on a platform in the corner, an array of swords and throwing knifes, including… his two thin bladed coandite swords.

He slowly walked over and picked them up, feeling the familiar weighting. He smiled slightly, before putting the swords back down on the table.

"so what do you say?" Alexis asked him in that same goddamn voice

Aerrow turned around and stared directly at her. He glanced at the open door briefly, as did she. Taking her by surprise, he shot off through the door before she could do anything to stop him. Curiously though, Alexis did nothing to try and stop the escaping teenager. She just crossed her arms, stared after him and smirked slightly

Once again, Aerrow found himself sprinting through the corridors. He went the same way he did the last time, but he came across a unit of guards. Without a weapon, there was no way he could take them all down. He cursed himself for leaving his swords behind. He came to a halt, turned around and sprinted back the other way

Eventually, he came to some kind of observation platform, surrounded by glass. Aerrow couldn't help but look down where he saw… the remaining members of the 100

He reached for the door handle, but to his dismay it was locked, protected by a small metal box that was obviously only activated by a keycard of some sort. Since Aerrow had no such keycard, he couldn't open the door, and couldn't get to his friends.

Desperation took control of him, and he threw himself at the glass, trying to attract their attention. "MONTY! JASPER!" he screamed at the top of his voice, bashing the glass with his palms.

But none of them noticed him.

They kept doing what they had been doing, completely oblivious to their friend, trapped on the level above. The room must have been soundproof, and the glass must have been reflective on the other side. He realised in horror that there was no way they could know he was here.

Aerrow stared desperately at his friends. "Please" he whispered to no-one as he sank to the floor. Tears flowed down his cheeks. He was crushed by anguish and despair, his mind weak and broken from all the people he had lost, and who he would never meet again.

He heard soft footsteps coming up behind him. He turned his head around and saw Alexis sauntering down the corridor. Admitting defeat, he turned back away and let his head hang low.

Alexis stopped a few metres behind him. "You can run all you like" she said to him "But you can't escape yourself" there was a tinge of… something in her voice. A slight sadness that he couldn't quite grasp.

"Ok" he whispered quietly

"what?"

"Ok" he growled, anger returning to his voice

He swung himself around and faced her

"you will train me"

Alexis stared at him for a few moments. And then the corner of her mouth turned into a smile.

**Well, this is interesting. And no, Alexis will most definitely not be another Sara. She has an entirely different purpose in this story, which will be revealed later. In the meantime, I'd just like to thank all of you for your encouraging feedback, it really means a lot to me. I'm going above and beyond to make this story a whole lot better than Closer To The Edge and hopefully it is. That's why its taking longer for me to update, simply because I'm spending more time drafting and fine-tuning the chapters. That's all for now, how you guys are interested in where this is going, because its insanely fun to write. Stay tuned for more**


	11. Chapter 11

**My apologies in the delay with this new chapter, I needed to take a break from writing to gather my ideas for what to do with the rest of this story and what I want to happen to Aerrow and the others. **

The walls of the room vibrated with the echoes of the angry clashes and clangs of metal hitting metal.

At its centre, two figures stood locked in a dance of violence, anger and aggression. At a distance, the two looked almost identical. They were of the same height, both had shoulder length hair and both wore the same form fitting flecked-silver, black clothes. One however wielded two thin bladed swords, about 80 centimetres in total length, while the other swung a single, long bladed samurai sword. On closer inspection, one would realise that these figures were not in fact identical. One was a man, the other a woman.

They fought with vibrance and energy. Just from the sounds of the weapons colliding and the grunts of their users, one thing was clear: this fight was _intense_

Aerrow concentrated hard. His jaw was clenched and adrenaline pumped through his veins. Drops of sweat formed on his brow but were quickly thrown off whenever he performed his next attack. Normally he loved this feeling, the feeling of being in battle, being locked in combat with another, where the only thing keeping him from death was his instincts and his ability. In fact, he had come to relish it.

But not this time.

This was hard. It was more than hard, it was brutal.

Alexis was an incredibly skilled opponent, and it was all he could do just to fend off her attacks, let alone try some of his own. She moved with fluidity and control, far greater control than he ever had, and she seemed to be able to predict exactly what he would do next. He may as well have been fighting in slow motion.

It didn't help that he still wasn't completely used to fighting with two weapons. He had built up and fine-tuned his skills using a bo-staff, and that muscle memory wasn't easy to shake. He may have been able to get by against the grounders and the guards using only his raw fighting talent, but here, now, Alexis made him look clumsy and un-coordinated.

What was more, while he was giving his absolute maximum, Alexis almost seemed to be holding back, just waiting for him to tire out. Wherever, or whoever she had picked up her fighting skills from, they had done a good job. She was on a total other level.

As he gradually tired out, Aerrow lost control on one of his swings and Alexis parried his sword and kept the momentum, spinning around in an instant, flicking her wrist and slicing Aerrow's cheek, all in one, effortless motion.

Aerrow dropped down onto one knee. He felt the side of his cheek before bringing his hand in front of his face. It was covered in blood. He growled in frustration. He couldn't beat her. He wasn't fast enough, he wasn't strong enough. He wasn't good enough.

Alexis stood over him "control your attacks" she told him quickly "don't let your enemy see your intentions"

Aerrow leapt back on his feet with a snarl and charged at her. This time she easily sidestepped and stuck her foot out, tripping her opponent over. Aerrow fell face first onto the ground and slid for a few metres before coming to an undignified halt.

"Control!" Alexis raised her voice at him sternly.

Aerrow clenched his fist. She was getting inside his head, something no enemy had done before. He rolled over onto his back in preparation of resuming his duel, only to find himself staring at the end of Alexis's sword, held just under his chin.

Aerrow froze.

Alexis's face was hard as she stared at her fallen opponent. She seemed annoyed that he wasn't improving.

Eventually she spoke "You may know how to fight" she spoke sourly "but by no means are you a warrior"

She lowered her sword quickly and spun on her heel "that is all for now" she said as she exited the room, leaving Aerrow to pick up the pieces of his broken pride.

Aerrow slowly sat up. He looked down at the swords in his hands, before shouting in anger and tossing them to the side. He got to his feet and lay down dismally on the bed in the corner of the room.

It had been several days since he had agreed to let Alexis train him, and while he had definitely made progress, he was still outclassed in every area by his female opponent. It frustrated him beyond belief that he was not good enough, there were people out there who were better than him, who threatened the lives of Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and everyone else he still cared about. As long as Alexis was better than him, the last two years of his life had been wasted.

He sat on the edge of the bed and thought to himself.

He flashed back to when he met Sara, and agreed to train her. He was the teacher, she was the student. Now the roles had reversed and it was him who was getting his ass kicked by a superior opponent.

He drew comparisons between him as a teacher, and Alexis. They were very different. When he had been training Sara, he had been patient with her, encouraged her and progressed things slowly. Alexis was the exact opposite. She has hard, fast and unforgiving. She pushed him hard, and gave little to no encouragement. She did not seem to view him as a person, rather only as a weapon.

Now he saw the difference between he and Alexis. When he was training Sara, he trained her through his emotions. Alexis trained him through her physical ability only. There was no heart and soul in her training, unlike the times with Sara that he had enjoyed so very much.

Furthermore, there were no secrets between he and Sara. They understood each other's thoughts and feelings. It was why they bonded so well together and when combined, made a fearsome fighting team. It wasn't like that with Alexis.

She was a complete mystery to him. He had no idea of her past, how she learnt to fight, nor her intentions for the future, for either herself or for him. Even just the way she interacted with him, the brutal attacks when they were fighting and the sly, sexy glances when they weren't, he couldn't tell if she wanted to kill him, or seduce him.

Aerrow trailed off his line of thought. His cheek was still bleeding but it would heal in time, just like the other cuts and slashes Alexis had inflicted on him over the past few days. What wouldn't heal was the crushing realisation that, as hard as he tried, as good as he was, _he wasn't good enough_.

A few minutes later, Alexis re-entered the room, only this time without her samurai sword.

"what now?" Aerrow said sourly as she approached

"Now I teach you control" she said simply, motioning for him to come over to her

Aerrow reluctantly pushed himself up with a slight groan and made his way over to where she stood.

The two sat on the floor, opposite each other in the centre on the room. They sat cross legged, backs perfectly straight

"why are we doing this?" Aerrow grumbled, uninterested

"because you are frustrated, Eroxin" Alexis replied "you need to relax"

Aerrow rolled his eyes. He had had enough of her training for one day

Alexis pulled something out from her pocket. It was a vial of something. Inside it was a light brown liquid. "drink this" she told him, holding the vial out to him

"Why?" Aerrow grumbled

"It is a natural tea, it will help you relax, to clear your mind" Alexis replied sharply "Now, drink it"

Aerrow reluctantly grabbed the vial and drunk it. It tasted strange, almost like a type of herb he had been given by a grounder who gave him his tattoos and taught him how to use a bow and arrow, in more peaceful times, before they made him hate them. Those herbs had helped heal injuries and counteract certain toxins. He had used them to save Sara's life after she had been poisoned with snake venom. How they could help him relax, he didn't know. Maybe this was a variant, or something new altogether.

Alexis shifted slightly, keeping her eyes fixed on his "now" she said "I want you to close your eyes"

Strangely, Aerrow felt the anger built up in his chest begin to subside, and he was indeed starting to relax and think more clearly. He found himself going along with what Alexis was telling him to do. He closed his eyes and his world went a serene black. Out of the darkness, he heard her voice.

"Take slow, deep breaths" she said. Her voice had changed. It had been hard and sharp, now it was slower, more gentle.

Aerrow did as he was told. Whatever was in the tea, it was really starting to kick in now. He felt so calm, more calm than he had been for a very long time. In fact, the last time he felt like this was when he was in his lonely cell on the Ark, training himself. He had no distractions, his mind was uncluttered. While physically he was trapped, in his mind he was free

"I feel your anger, your rage, your sadness" Alexis continue "it radiates from you, burning you up from the inside"

Subconsciously, Aerrow clenched his fist

"the only way to stop it, is to face it" Alexis told him. Suddenly, he felt her fingers on his temples. Her touch was cold, but soft "I want you to delve into your mind, concentrate, find the source of your anger"

Aerrow concentrated hard. Memories began playing in his head, memories built up over his entire life. He saw his father showing him the stars and telling him fantastical stories of myths and legends, he saw his early childhood friends, when his application to join the guard was successful, the first time he met Arianna, kissing her for the first time, training in his cell, landing on Earth for the first time and taking in the wondrous aroma of his new surroundings. He saw himself saving Clarke from the panther, lying on top of the drop ship with Sara. Every single memory had made him so happy, but now brought him so much pain as he remembered everything he lost. He was sure he could feel a tear rolling down his cheek.

He opened his eyes. Alexis was still staring at him. Her gaze was intense, but soft

"Everything" he breathed "I saw everything"

Alexis remained silent

"My whole life is what makes me angry. Everything that was, everything I've loved, everything I've lost"

Alexis pressed her lips together and shook her head "not good enough" she said "there is one moment. Look hard enough and you will find it"

Aerrow closed his eyes again

"remember, deep breaths" she said gently "one… two… three…"

Suddenly, her voice faded out, and Aerrow found himself in a subconscious nightmare

A rush of light came out of the darkness, and suddenly Aerrow was transported back to that fateful night of the battle with the grounders

_He took down yet another grounder with a swing of his bow. His muscles burned with fatigue, but he knew he must continue fighting. The soft pressure against his back reassured him. He turned and glanced briefly at Sara, whom he stood back to back with. Despite the grim scenario in front of him, he smiled. She had always made him do that, no matter how bad the situation, she had been able to make him smile. _

_Suddenly, Clarke came out of the drop ship, saying Jasper had set the rockets to fire, and told everyone to get inside._

_He turned to Sara._

"_Get inside the drop ship" he told her _

"_no" she replied straight away_

"_Sara" he said quietly "I need you to be safe"_

"_If you're not leaving, I'm not leaving" Sara said sternly, taking him aback with the sternness and determination in her voice_

"_Our story, remember" she continued "we started it together. That's how we finish it, together"_

_She extended her hand towards him._

_Aerrow closed his eyes briefly. He didn't want to lose Sara again, but he realised that she would be just as devastated if she lost him. Either they fought their way out of this, or they went down trying._

"_Together" he said finally, putting his hand out to meet hers._

_The next thing he saw was the tip of Tristan's sword exploding out the front of her chest. She looked down in shock as blood poured out of the wound and stained her shirt and ugly red. Aerrow was frozen in shock. He couldn't move. The girl he loved took a shaky step forward but then collapsed. He felt the tips of her fingers grace his as she fell._

"NO!" he screamed. His eyes shot open, looking around desperately for a weapon. His fists were clenched tight and sweat formed on his forehead as he took deep, heaving breaths. Suddenly, he realised that he wasn't in that clearing. He was in Mount Weather. he shook his head furiously, trying to shake the vision of Sara's dying body from his mind, but to no avail. He felt that anger inside him. It felt like it was about to explode out of his chest just the same as the sword did to Sara.

"Relax, Aerrow, relax" Alexis's firm voice called out, piercing the bubble of rage around him.

Somehow, he started to calm down, and he had no idea why. Then he realised. That was the first time he had ever heard her call him by his first name. Previously, she had only used 'Eroxin', but not this time. Why?

He looked down and noticed her hand gripping his wrist firmly. He looked up to meet her intense gaze. Her silver eyes bored a hole straight through his skull. They were intense, but there was also something in them. Something reassuring. Something that, despite her apparent absence of caring emotions, told him everything was going to be ok.

Gently, she let go of his wrist. He held his hand in front of his face. It was shaking uncontrollably.

"What did you see?" Alexis asked quietly

Aerrow hesitated before answering "I saw… I saw" he rasped, trying to find the words "A girl I loved… she was… killed by the grounders… and I didn't… I couldn't"

By now Aerrow was a wreck. Shaking uncontrollably, unable to form proper sentences. His shoulders heaved as tears flowed down his cheeks

"I just… I just let her die" he continued "we shouldn't have been at war… she didn't… she didn't have to die"

Unable to take it anymore, Aerrow squeezed his eyes shut and turned away. He got to his feet and walked over to the back wall of the room. He screamed as he punched it, before just putting his hands against it and leaning against it. He head was down and he breathed heavily, just trying to find some way to control himself.

He never noticed Alexis coming up behind him until, strangely, he felt her arms wrap around his neck and her hands rest against his chest. He froze instantly

"We are, all of us, like mice stuck in a maze" she said quietly "we will only move if presented with cheese or a cat. We are motivated only by a desperate sense of want, or a desperate sense of fear"

Aerrow slowly began to regain control of himself as he thought about her words

"In your case, want and fear are one in the same thing" Alexis continued, moving her hands back and forth slowly across his chest "You want to love, to be loved, but you also fear it"

Aerrow looked up, staring directly at the wall. She was on hundred percent correct. He thought he could deny himself of his feelings ever since Arianna was murdered on the Ark. That wasn't true. He was only running away, hiding himself from his feelings. The truth was, he craved love, but at the same time he was also terrified of it.

"A warriors life is lonely" Alexis told him quietly "Love is dangerous"

Aerrow remained motionless. He glared at the wall in front of him, trying both to force his emotions down, and resist Alexis's soft touch

"But…" she continued "love is also a choice"

Unseen by him, she leaned in close, bringing her mouth next to his hear while very deliberately pressing herself against his back

"You are a remarkable person, Aerrow" she whispered in his ear "But you are held back by the pain of your past"

Aerrow stared dead ahead, refusing to make eye contact. He could feel her breasts pressing gently against his shoulder.

"My dorm is next door" she continued "It is accessible by my keycard only. Tonight, that lock will be disabled. If you need me, I'm there…"

She placed a slow, soft kiss on his cheek. Her lips barely touched his skin but even then he felt an electrifying jolt at the contact. And then, in an instant, she was gone.

Aerrow was frozen where he stood. A whirlpool of thoughts and images swirled around in his head.

He had lost Arianna. He had lost Sara. He saw Clarke, sweet Clarke. He felt her lips pressed against his. He also saw the look of utter disappointment on her face the moment she found out about he and Sara. That kind of emotion never faded. He didn't know if she had made it back to the camp or not. Hell, he didn't even know if she was still alive. What was the point of being in love with someone you could never quite grasp?

Then he saw Alexis, beautiful and deadly in equal amounts, pressed against his shoulder in her skin tight clothing, practically offering herself to him.

He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, before walking over to his bed. He lay down and covered his face with his hands and sighed.

He never went to Alexis's dorm.

…

This was observed by a man named Cage Wallace, Dante's son. He stared at an image of Aerrow's sleeping form, presented on a monitor in the mountain's command centre.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened and the dark skinned Doctor Singh strutted in.

"Doctor Singh" he addressed her

She stopped in front of him "Cage" she said impassively

"what do you have on the boy?"

Singh smiled slyly, before walking over to the monitor. She quickly brought up a page of figures and test results

"He is remarkable" Singh stated "His intellect is impressive, he reacts and adapts quickly. His pain tolerance is ten times higher than a normal persons, and he heals from injuries extremely quickly. His physical capabilities are extraordinary, almost a rival for Alexis's but here's the thing"

She paused

"Alexis was trained from the moment she was born"

"So what?" Cage replied "Maybe he did as well. Who knows what they were doing up there?"

"No, look at this" Singh interjected, pointing to a particular figure on the data "His cellular data indicates that he has only been putting himself under such physical strain for the past 26 months. It's like he is… enhanced"

Cage frowned, his mind whirring with possible explanations. He studied the graph hard. He looked at a particular model of data and his eyes narrowed

"His DNA, it's perfect" he told Singh "zero genetic imperfections at all. How is that possible?"

"Excellent question" Singh replied "although theoretically, it is naturally possible, the chances of such a thing happening are over a trillion to one, there has simply been too many genetic mutations to the base human genome over time"

Cage frowned "so… how can he be like this"

Singh looked at him seriously "There is a way" she said slowly "During the war, there was a military project"

"what kind of military project?" Cage asked slowly

"Have you ever heard of Robert Van Dyke?" Singh asked him. Cage shook his head

"He was a Dutch scientist, specialised in genetic binding, taking the best, most highly evolved parts of peoples DNA and fusing them together" Singh said "He developed a serum that, when injected into a newborn baby, when the DNA still isn't fully developed, it allows perfect bonding between the genetic components of that baby's parents. This means that only the best attributes of the parents' DNA is passed on to the child, while the limiting ones are removed from the genetic make up. This leads to higher physical and mental capabilities"

Cage cocked his head at her. This sounded vaguely familiar

"Anyway, the U.S military recruited him and began working on a soldier development program, a supersoldier, if you like. They injected babies with this serum, waited until they were old enough to be trained as soldiers, then ran them through a series of trials to test if their physical and psychological capabilities had indeed improved" Singh continued "It was dark stuff, cutting edge and top secret. No-one knows what happened to the soldiers, but the trials came to be known as Van Dyke's tests"

Cage looked up sharply. Now he recognised the name. Van Dyke's tests were brutal. The soldiers were pushed beyond their human limits. The tests were initially implemented on Navy SEAL's, the most physically capable human beings in the world, and every one of them was killed. The rest of the world may not have known the details, but stories of the tests were well known and had been down from generation to generation

"Anyway, the bombs were dropped before the tests could be proven conclusive, and the serum was lost forever" Singh went on

Cage licked his lips "Is it possible that the tests could have continued in space?" he asked Singh

Singh shook her head "not a chance. All the data on the tests, and the serum itself, was lost in the war. If Eroxin's DNA is perfect, I don't know how, but he is not a product of Robert Van Dyke"

Cage stared at her for a few moments, then looked back at the image of Aerrow, unaware that he too, was being watched

…

_In a dark room, somewhere else in Mount Weather, a man sat in front of a monitor. On the screen was an image of Aerrow, alone in his dorm. The man stared at the screen, his small, beady eyes glistening with intent. On the end of his nose sat a pair of exquisite circular, gold rimmed glasses._

_He was surrounded by television screens, all projecting various images and data. The largest screen projected a timeline, with data entries written at various points along the timeline._

_It read:_

16/12/2197: Ark Station reports birth of subject Alpha. Serum injection successful

12/12/2199: Ark station reports birth of subject Sierra. Serum injection successful.

21/10/2213: Ark station reports culling successful. Uniting of Alpha and Sierra has begun

16/12/2215: drop ship released. Landing successful. The 100 are on the ground.

05/01/2216: Data reports suggest that subject X had been successfully conceived. Project nearly complete

14/01/2216: PROJECT FAILURE! REPEAT, PROJECT FAILURE! Data indicates Sierra is deceased. Subject X lost.

UPDATE: Mission still active. DNA successfully recovered from subject Sierra. Awaiting acquirement of subject Alpha for DNA fusion

_(there was another data entry, preceding the one dated _16/12/2197 _by three years_,_ but he ignored it. It was not integral to his mission. It read: _30/09/2194: MISSION ALERT: Ark station reports birth of subject Bravo, However data indicates Serum injection failed. Subject aborted

UPDATE: Subject Bravo has been taken care of, mission timeline set back but still on course)

_The man stared at the writing. He clenched his fist in frustration, but he quickly relaxed. This was his life's work. He could afford to wait a little longer_

_His wrinkled but nimble fingers danced across his keyboard, and a new data entry appeared_

20/01/2216: Part Alpha potentially acquired. Awaiting confirmation. Further information to be provided.

_The man stared at what he had written one last time, before pressing his finger down on the 'enter' key. Then he leaned back in his chair and grinned evilly._

**Ooh… it is from this point where everything starts picking up. There will be much more to this story than just what happens on the show. Stay tuned for more**


	12. Chapter 12

**So so sorry about yet another big break between chapters, I am endeavouring to upload more regularly but it is very hard for me at the moment to find time to draft new chapters, however I'll do my best. I'm determined to finish this story.**

Aerrow awoke to the sound of the door to his room opening. He sat up sharply, bracing for another brutal day of training as Alexis entered the room.

He eyed her cautiously as she approached him, the events of the previous day still replaying over and over in his head

She stopped in front of him. She eyed him up and down, as if evaluating him "Gather your weapons" she addressed him "then follow me"

Aerrow did as he was told and soon they were walking through the corridors of the Mount Weather complex

"Where are we going?" he asked as they walked down another flight of stairs

"You'll find out soon enough" Alexis answered impassively "You are ready to begin the next stage of your training"

She was apparently unfussed that he hadn't taken her up on her offer the night before

Soon, they came to a door built into the very rock of the mountain. At its centre was a circular window. Aerrow looked through it and saw nothing but pitch black.

"What is this?" he breathed, straining to make anything out of the gloom

"Do you know who Ares was?" Alexis asked him, looking him straight in his eye.

Aerrow shook his head

"Ares was the Greek God of war" she answered for him "The son of Zeus and Hera, he embodied the violent, untamed side of war"

Aerrow shrugged his shoulders, confused "why are you telling me this?"

"Because we are project Ares" Alexis said seriously. Aerrow had no response.

She gestured to the door leading to the black room "This room is your test, in which you face multiple enemies"

Aerrow said nothing

"This door only opens one way" she continued "this is the entrance. It is up to you to defeat your opponents and find the exit. You have one hour"

"Did you have to do this?" Aerrow asked suddenly

Alexis looked at him. Her face changed from dead serious to something else, something sadder. She hesitated before answering "yes" she said, her voice distant "When I was 12"

Aerrow struggled to comprehend her words. _12? _How could anyone put a person of such a young age through the labyrinth? She had obviously been living this life since she was born. He studied her face closely. Despite how fearsome she was, Aerrow could make out a trace of fear crossing her face as she remembered what must have happened.

"what did you have to face?" he asked carefully

Alexis said nothing. Instead, she slowly turned around and lifted the back of her shirt up, revealing three hideous scars of what must have been claw marks. There were three of them, all running diagonally across the centre of her back. The wounds must have been huge and ragged. Aerrow felt a wave of pity wash over him as he remembered she was only 12 when this happened.

"What-" he began

"Enough" Alexis cut him off sharply "I faced my enemy, now it is time for you to face yours. Choose your weapons"

She gestured to a table of weapons, the same one from his room. Aerrow gazed over the weaponry for a long time, scrutinising everything. He had no clue what he would have to face in that room, so he figured it would be best to cover all bases. He chose his two coandite swords, a few shuriken throwing stars as well as a high tech compound bow complete with a quiver full of arrows. Such an advanced weapon was new to him, but archery wasn't. He had been taught how to shoot with a recurve bow by the grounders. Despite his current situation, he smiled slightly at the familiar weight of the weapon in his hand.

Armed up, Aerrow turned and faced the door.

Alexis gripped the handle, ready to open it "not even I know what awaits you in this room" she told him "good luck"

Aerrow took a deep breath, and then strode solemnly into the blackness

…

Aerrow walked forwards. Slowly, carefully. Ensuring he made no sound at all to alert whatever else was in the room to his presence.

He heard the soft resonating sound of the heavy door behind him shutting, sealing him inside the room.

And then all was still

It was calm. Eerily calm.

Aerrow squinted through the blackness, trying desperately to make any sort of features, but he saw nothing. He may have well had his eyes shut, the room was so dark. It un-nerved him, not being able to see what was around him. Whatever else was in the room with him may well have been standing directly behind him for all he knew. He felt a sense of panic begin to rise up in his chest.

He forced it back down. His survival depended on him being able to keep a level head. He recalled Alexis's teachings of control. He took several deep breaths and calmed his mind. He realised that he could not get out of this by relying on sight, he needed to use all his senses, all his instincts to survive. He strained his ears, trying to make out even the smallest sound, but he heard nothing. He smelt the air. It was musty, but no strange smells presented themselves. Maybe what he was facing wasn't actually in here yet. What he knew was that without at least some vision, he wouldn't be able to find the exit door, so he backtracked his steps, until he felt the solid concrete wall of the room press against his back. Then, he sat down, and waited.

Eventually, his eyes began to adjust to the dark and he began to make out his surroundings. The room he was in was large, much larger than he thought. It appeared to have once been an underground carpark before the war, as dozens of abandoned cars were scattered around it. They provided plenty of cover for him, or whatever he was facing. He scanned the walls, looking for the exit, but he saw nothing. He realised he couldn't cheat his way out of this. His adversaries would find him before he could find the door. He waited until his night vision fully kicked in before making his move.

He silently got to his feet and began to creep forward. He held the compound bow in his hand with an arrow nocked on the drawstring, ready to fire in an instant. His every nerve was on high alert as he moved throughout the room, scouring for his enemy or the way out.

A while later, Aerrow was nearing the other end of the room. His eyes lit up when he saw the rectangular outline of a door. Maybe by being smart, and moving silently, he had been able to navigate the labyrinth and find the way out without crossing paths with anything else. He lowered his bow and moved quickly towards the door.

He grasped the handle and yanked it firmly.

The door didn't budge.

Aerrow tried again, but got the same result. '_no'_ he screamed inside his head. Thinking quickly, he stuck the end of one of his arrows in the small gap between the door and the wall, but it was blocked. Aerrow realised too late that what he thought was an outline, was actually just a thin line of paint. It was a false door.

Before he could think of his next move, he heard something. The faintest sound of a stone rattling across the floor behind him. Aerrow felt his muscles tense and he froze instantly.

He turned around slowly, ever so slowly, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

Standing in front of him were not one, not two, but 10 Reapers. Aerrow looked from side to side, glancing from one Reaper to the next. So this was his enemy. Aerrow tightened his grip on his bow grimly. He had fought off several Reapers at once before, but this time the odds were very much against him. There was something else about these Reapers though. They were different from the other ones. Their faces weren't deformed. They looked remarkably similar to ordinary grounders, save for the white paint and blood on their faces.

They stared at him with a ravenous hunger. They had been starved. They needed food. He was surrounded and they knew it.

The first Reaper charged at him all of a sudden. Aerrow instinctively took aim with his bow and fired. The arrow lodged in the Reaper's left eye socket, and he dropped to the ground. As soon as the first Reaper dropped, it was a free for all.

The remaining Reapers all came at Aerrow at once. He tossed his bow to the side and drew his swords. Ducking and dodging the Reapers' blows, he managed to cut down one or two of them, but soon their sheer numbers overwhelmed him. One ploughed into him, tackling him around the waist and driving him up against a door of one of the cars. The handle buckled at the impact and the door swung open, and a few items dropped out. Aerrow could do nothing as the Reaper then tossed him to the ground like he was a Rag doll.

Aerrow and the Reaper rolled on the ground in a savage tussle. Aerrow may have been strong, but the Reaper was stronger, and eventually the demented being had Aerrow pinned to the ground beneath him. The Reaper bared his teeth and tried to _bite _the teenagers face, but Aerrow recoiled and held him at bay. Barely.

The Reaper came at him again. Saliva dribbled from the Reaper's mouth and splattered over Aerrow's face and chest. Thinking quickly, Aerrow grasped his shuriken throwing knife and slashed it across the Reaper's throat. Blood poured over him, and he rolled away as the Reaper howled in pain for several horrifying moments before dropping dead.

Aerrow tried to get back on his feet but the other Reapers joined in, surrounding Aerrow, tearing at his clothes and trying to bite his flesh. Aerrow struggled desperately to avoid them, but he realised that if he didn't do something soon, he would end up as dinner.

He looked around him, searching for something, anything to help him. He spied a long cylindrical object on the ground. It must have come from the open car door. It looked a lot like a-

He didn't have time to finish the thought. He snatched it off the ground, just as one of the Reaper's found one of Aerrow's discarded swords and swung it down. Hoping to god he was right in identifying what he'd grabbed, and that it even still worked, Aerrow flicked the on switch.

Dazzling white light flared out from the end of the object. The Reapers howled and recoiled from the light, shielding their eyes desperately.

Aerrow clung to the object in relief. He had been right. It was a torch.

He quickly grabbed one of his swords off the ground. Now the tables were turned. The Reapers, blinded by the light, were powerless to defend themselves and in the moments that followed, Aerrow turned the carpark into a blood bath.

He killed with a ferocity and violence he had never before unleased. He swung his sword with savage power and anger, severing arms from bodies, and heads from necks. For the next minute, all that could be heard was the howls of the Reapers.

Aerrow withdrew his sword from the neck of the last Reaper, breathing a small sigh of relief as he did. His challenge was over. Now he just had to find the exit. He felt no remorse for what he had done. His only objective had been to survive, by any means. At last he saw the truth behind Alexis's words. He was indeed a killer.

He was startled by a sudden grunt that came from behind him. Aerrow spun himself around quickly and saw one more Reaper caught in the beam of his torch. The Reaper groaned in pain as the light blinded him.

Aerrow narrowed his eyes, tightened his grip on his sword and strode forwards. He stood over the Reaper and prepared to bring his sword down, but then something stopped him.

This Reaper looked vaguely familiar. Aerrow lowered his sword and looked closer. His eyes shot open and he took a step back in shock.

It was Lincoln.

Somehow, the Mountain Men had turned him into a Reaper.

Lincoln stared at him with crazy, bloodshot eyes. Aerrow noted several puncture marks in the side of his neck, but he couldn't think of what might have caused them.

He now faced a difficult choice. He needed to escape this room and complete this god-awful test, but that meant killing everything inside. Including Lincoln.

He held his sword in front of him with shaking hands. _He couldn't do it._ He just couldn't bring himself to kill his friend.

Aerrow was desperately trying to think of what else he could do, when suddenly the torch he was holding flickered… and then it went out.

Aerrow stared down at the now useless torch in his hand, then back at Lincoln. No longer blinded by the light, the grounder-turned-Reaper got back to his feet menacingly and charged at Aerrow.

With lightning reflexes, Aerrow sidestepped the charging man and bashed the back of his head with the heavy torch. Lincoln flopped lifelessly to the ground. He wasn't dead, just unconscious.

Now safe from the threat of the Reapers, Aerrow re-collected his swords and regained his breath. While he waited for his night vision to return, he contemplated what to do with Lincoln.

He knew now that he couldn't kill him, but maybe he could make the Mountain Men – who were no doubt monitoring him – think the Reaper was dead.

Thinking quickly, Aerrow dragged Lincoln's motionless body over to one of the abandoned motor vehicle, where he opened the door and bundled Lincoln inside. He shut the door and turned to leave when his foot caught on something on the floor.

Aerrow froze.

He dropped to his hands and knees, searching for what it could have been. Eventually, he found it. A handle.

_Yes_

Relieved that his trial was over, Aerrow hurriedly yanked on it. Suddenly, the whole floor panel Aerrow was on fell open, and Aerrow dropped into the dark tunnel that lay beneath.

**Thank you all for your positive feedback so far. Guest: your comment made me smile because those ideas are exactly what I already had planned for the story, though maybe not in the same way you envisaged them.**


	13. Chapter 13

Aerrow slid. Fast.

He was able to right himself and regain some sort of control of his slide when he saw a circle of light approaching fast. Before he could do anything, he dropped out of the tunnel and…

…landed back into his dorm.

Aerrow looked around him, surprised.

He was startled by a sudden clapping sound echoing around the room. He swung his head around to see Alexis standing in the centre of the room, clapping slowly, almost patronisingly. "well done, Mr Eroxin" she said slowly. Sexily.

Breathing heavily, Aerrow could only look around him, still trying to come to terms with what had happened.

"You survived the trial" Alexis addressed him somewhat ominously "but there is one more test you must face"

"what's that?" Aerrow rasped, his throat still burning from the dusty air of the 'trial' room.

Alexis said nothing. Instead, she grinned slightly, her eyes flashing with an un-nerving tinge of delight, and she stepped aside. The door to the room opened and in walked two guards dragging a struggling teenage girl behind them. Her hands were tied behind her back and she was gagged courtesy of a rag tied over her mouth. She kicked and screamed, trying to resist the guards but to no avail.

"what is this?" Aerrow breathed, glaring at Alexis.

"your final test" Alexis replied simply, almost casually

One of the guards kicked the backs of the girls knees in, and she dropped to the ground, kneeling in front of Aerrow, completely at his mercy.

Aerrow stared at her, mouth open in shock. Alexis came right up behind him "This girl was arrested for hoarding resources" her words were a whispered hiss in his ear "and now you are going to kill her"

Aerrow stared down at the auburn-haired girl. She stared up at him with terrified eyes. The eyes of a person who knew they were about to die.

He clenched his jaw, and turned to face Alexis "no" he said firmly.

Alexis seemed taken aback by his words. To a certain extent, Aerrow was too. A week ago, he would have slit her throat without so much as a second thought. But that was before he found Clarke again. Before he met Alexis. She thought she had made him an undefeatable, indiscriminate killer by removing his Achilles heel, his anger-fuelled lack of control.

In truth, it had done the exact opposite.

By giving him back his control and clearing his head of anger, she had actually removed his desire to kill. It was only because of her that he now stood in front of her defiantly.

She was shocked at his words, but quickly regained her composure. "not an option" she told him, shaking her head disapprovingly

"That's a lie" Aerrow said quickly, firmly "Mercy is always an option. I will kill my enemies but I will not kill someone undeserving of death. I will not become an executioner"

Alexis responded to this by quickly and viscously slapping him across his cheek with enough force to re-open the cut from the previous day

"Fool" she chided him. Her voice was loud but not quite a shout "you still don't understand. WE are project Ares, YOU and ME. And just like Ares, we must be overwhelming, insatiable in battle, destructive, and man-slaughtering. We are the only ones who passed the tests, who have the physical and mental aptitude for what is required of us"

"And what is that exactly?" Aerrow said suspiciously, his voice low.

"To fight" Alexis answered blankly "To kill" there was a tinge of menace in her voice as she said it

She took a step towards him, now standing directly in front him "You are a killer, Eroxin, both of us know that" she told him "Now prove it"

Aerrow stared at her, his face hard. She returned the glare. He remained motionless, eyes unwavering, not giving anything away.

And then slowly, ever so slowly, he turned away. He rotated around, facing the crying girl once more.

He grasped one of his swords tightly in his left hand. And then he raised the end so it was angled directly at her neck. He rested it under her chin. The girl whimpered and lowered her head, resigning herself to her fate.

Behind him, Alexis smiled evilly "do it" she ordered him in a low, menacing voice.

Aerrow gritted his teeth. He made his decision.

Suddenly, he whirled around and swung his blade at Alexis. She ducked just in time, barely avoiding losing her head. She righted herself once more but Aerrow had the upper hand. He kicked her viscously in her midriff, and she stumbled backwards, winded.

Aerrow then turned to the guards standing over the girl. He raised one of his swords at them "take her away, and release her. Now" he demanded slowly in a low voice.

"we don't take orders from you" one of the guards stated

Quick as a flash, Aerrow flicked his wrist, and the next thing the guard knew he had a shuriken throwing star lodged in his throat. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his neck as he bled out. The other guard stared down at his dying counterpart in shock, then he looked back to Aerrow, eyes wide with fear.

Aerrow didn't need to say anything. The guard quickly untied the girl's hands, removed the cloth over her mouth and took her out of the room.

Aerrow stared after them. The corners of his mouth twitched, but before he could think about the good he had just done, he heard an angered scream come from behind him.

Instinctively, he turned and ducked as Alexis swung her samurai sword at his neck. He spun and backed away, grabbing his other sword in the process.

Alexis stood in front of him. Her usual cool silver eyes now blazed with rage.

The two stared at each other, sizing each other up.

And then they engaged.

It was brutal fighting. Mean, vicious, deadly.

This was different to their training fights. This time, both Aerrow and Alexis were out to kill each other.

They slashed and swung at each other with their weapons, inflicting gashes and cuts on each other as they fight drew on. There was only one way this could end: with one or both of them dead.

Alexis punched him in his face, breaking his nose. Aerrow recoiled instantly, he could feel blood running out of his nose but he had no time to think more as Alexis came at him again with a flurry of swings of her sword. It was all Aerrow could do to avoid them, but eventually Alexis got the better of him and kicked him dead in the centre of his chest. The force of the kick drove him backwards against the wall of the room.

Alexis stood in front of him, the tip of her sword levelled at his heart "you will die just as _she _did" she stated coldly, voice evil. She was obviously talking about Sara.

At that thought, the thought of Sara, something changed in Aerrow. He instantly became more focussed, more aware, sharper. He fought back quickly and viciously. He parried Alexis's sword away, before planting a karate chop on her wrist, causing her hand to reflexively spring open, dropping her sword. Before she could do anything, Aerrow roughly gabbed her shoulders, swung her around and shoved her against the wall.

Breathing heavily, she stopped fighting and locked eyes with him. Aerrow glared at her. Panting also, he stared at her face for several long moments, trying to decide what to do next.

It was a stalemate, neither warrior wanted to back down on their values but neither really wanted to kill each other. They remained like that, eyes locked, glaring at each other for several, very long moments.

And then something happened that neither of them had been expecting.

Aerrow had no idea who kissed who first. One moment they had been staring daggers at each other, the next his lips were pressed hard against hers.

Alexis too, was taken aback at first, but once she realised that this was no mistake, that both of them wanted this and neither her nor Aerrow were going to separate, she quickly gave herself to him and kissed him back equally as hard and passionately. After that, things progressed very quickly as the two warriors were overcome by the heat of the moment and gave in to their deepest desires.

She ran her hand through his hair, grasping the back of his head while at the same wrapping her legs around his waist as he pressed her against the wall of the room.

They hurriedly stripped out of their clothes, desperate for each other. As he continued to kiss her, Aerrow let his hands roam over her lithe body, feeling every inch of her exposed skin, from her slender but muscular shoulders, to the scars on her back, to her small, firm breasts. She moaned sensually at his touch and returned the favour. She ran her hands over his own scars, feeling the rough, raised flesh. Every single one carried a story, of how it was inflicted and how he had recovered from it. It was alluring to her, intoxicating. Never had she wanted to be with anyone more than she wanted to be with him.

She gasped as he entered her. She dug her fingernails deep into his back, drawing blood and he bit the side of her neck as he thrust inside her.

As he did so, Aerrow kept thinking to himself that this was wrong. He couldn't do this again, couldn't defy his love for Clarke another time. But part of him needed this, needed the release of stress and anger that had slowly been building up in his head since the battle of the grounders.

They continued making love passionately against the wall. Completely unlike his times with Clarke and later Sara, there was no love in his connection to Alexis. It was all pure, animalistic lust and desire. This wasn't about wanting someone. This was about needing someone.

Alexis moaned passionately in his ear as she climaxed. She may have been in heaven, but the entire time Aerrow felt nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

Eventually, Alexis collapsed on top of him in a sweaty, gasping heap, and both of them did nothing but lay on the bed in the corner of the room, completely exhausted. Their naked bodies pressed together, both fell asleep quickly in each other's arms.

…

Later that night, amidst the pitch black, Aerrow stirred. His eyes shot open, instantly focussed.

Being especially careful not to wake Alexis, He quickly got dressed and stowed his swords in their holsters on his back.

He shifted through Alexis's belongings. Among other things, he found her keycard. Silently, he put the keycard and a few other items in one of his pockets. He paused as soon as he was finished. He glanced up at Alexis's sleeping from with narrowed eyes.

And then he silently stood up and headed for the door. Before he left, he turned back to look at Alexis one more time. She looked peaceful in sleep, and had a small, contented smile on her face. He looked at her through narrowed eyes, then sarcastically blew her a kiss and shut the door.

**And so the escape begins... I'm finally getting somewhere with drafting this story so stay tuned for more coming soon. **


	14. Chapter 14

**The escape begins…**

Aerrow crept through the halls of Mount Weather, keeping to the shadows of the corridors and making as little noise as possible.

He had tried to escape twice before, both times in a desperate hurry, and both times he had failed. This time would be different. This time, he had a plan.

He had Alexis's keycard, which he knew could open pretty much any door in the entire facility, and he also had the cover of night to his advantage. The only real problem was getting far enough away before Alexis woke up and realised he was no longer there.

If he could, he also wanted to find and rescue the other members of the 100, but he couldn't remember where they were and he didn't have the time to search through the entire facility.

He tried to remember the way he had gone when he first tried to escape, but everything just looked so similar, and soon he had no idea where he was anymore.

Aerrow growled, frustrated. It was no point trying to escape if he had no idea where he even was. That then was his priority. He needed a map.

He looked at the labels on the rooms in his corridor. Most of them were dormitories, where the regular residents of Mount Weather lived. They wouldn't be of any use to him. He quickly moved down the corridor and spied a small janitor's closet. Maybe there would be something in there. He quickly threw the door open and looked through the assortment of tools and cleaning agents. If he had more time, he would have liked to have taken some of the tools with him. They could have been useful, but he had all the items he needed, he just needed to find a map.

He found one of sorts. It was a map of the ventilation system of the entire complex. Obviously the Janitors would need to know the layout to perform routine maintenance, an important job given that the ventilation system was all that stood between the residents of the mountain and the radiation outside (Alexis had told him how the citizens of Mount Weather were trapped inside by radiation, and how his system was able to filter out that radiation as he had been born in space, where solar radiation was far worse than the nuclear radiation on the ground).

He skimmed over the piece of paper briefly, but quickly discounted it. All he needed was a goddamn map of the corridors. Frustrated, he shut the door to the cabinet and moved on.

At the end of the hall, Aerrow came to a junction. On the wall was a sign, saying which corridor led to where.

The one pointing left said: _Level 2: Command centre_

Aerrow quickly discounted it. Sure, it probably contained a map but it would also most definitely have guards stationed there. Not an option

The sign pointing right read; _level 3: classrooms_

Aerrow smiled. _Better._

He took off down the right corridor. Soon, he arrived at a large door with a colourful poster on it. Various other posters adorned the walls of the corridor, all of them looking like they had been drawn by little kids.

At the centre of this wall, spelt in big letters were the words: MOUNT WEATHER PRESCHOOL

Aerrow smiled. There had to be a map in the room. The door was locked but that was no problem for him. He simply stuck the end of one of his swords in the gap between the door and the wall and levered upwards. The ultra sharp coandite blade cleaved through the lock like a knife through butter and in seconds, Aerrow was inside.

It took him only a few minutes to find what he needed. It was a big poster stuck on the back wall. His eyes flashed over it. He was on level 3, and the main door was on level 1. All he needed to do was get up two flights of stairs and head east. It sounded simple enough so Aerrow didn't bother taking the poster with him. Instead, he memorised the route he had to take and hurriedly left the classroom, unseen.

Except by one thing.

A lone security camera positioned in the corner of the room, concealed by the shadows recorded Aerrow's every move.

This was immediately noticed by the guard stationed in the command centre, who straight away turned to his commander, Cage Wallace, and alerted him.

"Sir, theres someone on level 3"

Cage looked over, confused "It's well past curfew" he said "why would anyone-"

He cut himself off when he saw who it was, and his hand immediately went to the alarm button.

Suddenly, sirens began ringing all over the Mountain, accompanied by flashing red lights on the sides of the corridors.

Aerrow stopped dead still. He swore at the realisation. They knew he was trying to escape. Weary-eyed people began to emerge from their dorms, wanting to know what all the fuss was about. Aerrow whipped his head back and forth down the corridor, trying to work out what to do. He realised that he had lost any element of surprise, so all he could do was move fast, and try to get to the door before any guards did. He sprinted down the corridor.

Back in the command centre, guards were mobilising while Cage and the security camera supervisor stared at Aerrow's sprinting form

"He's going for the main door" the guard said to Cage "Do you want to send a team there now?"

Cage stared at the screen for a few seconds, before shaking his head "mmm… no" he told the guard "let him think he can escape"

Aerrow raced through the corridors, barging past people, desperately trying to reach the main door before the guards. He shot up the last flight of stairs, turned right, and there it was. The main door. His way out. Furthermore, there were no guards there.

He allowed himself to smile slightly, before quickly striding forwards towards the door.

Just as he was about to reach it though, a new siren blared and two thick metal barred walls dropped down from the ceiling, one in front of him, one behind him. At this realisation, Aerrow threw himself at the bars but he was too slow. He was trapped.

It was at that moment that a full squad of guards came around the corner, each carrying a high tech assault rifle. Each of them looked seriously pissed off.

Thinking quickly, Aerrow backed away from the bars and held his hands up. As he walked back slowly, he thought furiously about what he could do to escape. There was something… some other way… but he couldn't remember what it was.

The guards kept their rifles trained on him.

_Was it something he had been told? _

Covered by his unit, the lead guard prepared to raise the bars to detain Aerrow.

_Something he had seen?_

_Something he had read?_

He thought back to the map in the classroom. No, there was nothing on that. This was the only way out.

_Wait. _

_Map._

The map in the classroom wasn't the only map he had seen.

_The ventilation system!_

_The map of the ventilation system, showing where all the ventilation shafts were in the mountain. They all lead… to the top of the mountain. Outside._

Aerrow quickly scoured the walls of his improvised cage, searching for a vent of some sort. He spied it on the corner between the wall and the ceiling, just back from where the bars of the cage were.

Just as the guard lifted the bars, Aerrow sprang into action. He pulled out one of the things he had taken from Alexis. A smoke grenade. Without hesitation, he pulled the pin and red smoke filled the corridor. The guards dropped their weapons and began to choke and they breathed in the smoke.

Aerrow moved faster. He sprinted at the bars. As he did so, he threw a shuriken at the vent. The black throwing star hit the cover of the vent and it dropped off. Aerrow launched himself at the bars, kicking off them and propelling himself up towards the vent.

He caught the lip with his fingertips and hauled himself up.

He moved fast. He didn't exactly know where he was going either, but he figured as long as he was heading up, he would eventually get to the top of the mountain.

It took a long time. A lot longer than he thought it would. He took several wrong turns and had to backtrack on his path, one such occurrence had cost him several hours he figured.

Crawling through the tunnels was quickly starting to become hell. The rust on the metal had started shredding the skin on his hands and wrists, the tunnels themselves were tight and constricting and his throat was burning from the constant inhalation of dust and soot. The only thing that kept him going was the bright lure of escape.

Eventually, Aerrow spied light at the end of the ventilation shaft. He wearily crawled towards it before finally, gloriously, he burst out into daylight.

He practically fell out of the ventilation shaft and dropped onto solid ground with a thud. He staggered back to his feet and gazed out at the morning sun.

Instantaneously, he was overcome by emotions. Fatigue and relief washed over him, but they were overpowered by another emotion, one he thought he would never – could never – feel again: joy

It rushed up inside of him, resonating from the deepest parts of his heart. Joy at seeing the sun again, feeling its warmth, its life. An enormous grin broke out on his face. His raised his arms up and screamed into the sky in pure happiness.

As wonderful as the moment was however, it was short lived, as he quickly realised that, while he had escaped the facility, he still needed to get off the Mountain itself. And that was much easier said than done.

He was right on top of the mountain, and the only way down as a 1000 foot vertical drop. Aerrow peered over the edge cautiously. This was not going to be easy, but he had no other choice. He had to climb down.

**Not much happened in this chapter, I know, but I decided to split Aerrow's escape into two parts because combined it would have been over 5000 words, and the next chapter is where everything happens. Stay tuned**


	15. Chapter 15

**The escape continues…**

Aerrow stood back from the edge and flexed his fingers in anticipation for the monumental task that lay ahead of him. He took several deep breaths before gingerly stepping forward and lowering himself over the edge.

_One move at a time_ he told himself as he began his vertical descent

_Hand… foot… hand… foot_

He had always been interested in rock climbing, ever since he had seen a picture of a climber standing on a tiny ledge over 2000 feet above the ground, without a rope or anything to stop him from falling. Of course, he had never actually had much practise, save for the occasional scrambling up a small rockface as well as some 'routes' on the roof of his cave, but his fighting skills had given him the strength in his fingers, wrists and arms that he so desperately needed right now.

He shut the height out of his brain, along with the potential consequences of falling. He focussed purely on his next hand or foot movement, moving slowly and precisely down the rockface.

It was tough going. The granite was hard and abrasive, and very quickly the skin on his fingers was stripped. The soles of his boots were stiff, so he could at least stand on small edges with relative ease, but they had very little grip, so he had to pay extra attention to where he was placing his feet, well aware that one slip could end him. The climb was also tiring beyond belief. Downclimbing was much harder than climbing up, as he constantly had to lean out in order to see his next foothold, and the verticality of the cliff face meant that he had very little opportunity to take any rests. It was too late to turn back now though. All he could do was keep moving.

An hour or two later, Aerrow had made slow, but steady progress down the cliff face and was now about halfway down. His fingers ached from the constant strain and his entire body was now caked in a thick layer of sweat and dust, which didn't exactly help his grip.

Eventually, he came to a particularly blank section of the face. There looked to be very few hand or foot holds, but it was the only way down. Aerrow grimaced as he began moving through it. He clung on to dear life by the very edges of his fingertips, while smearing his feet against the rockface. He let out a sigh of relief when he found a ledge to stand on, and was finally able to take some of the strain off his arms.

Suddenly though, the ledge gave way and he dropped. Desperately, he thrust his left hand out and grasped a small eroded pocket in the rock. For several seconds, he swung wildly, 400 feet above the ground, hanging one handed out of pure will to survive. It took all his strength not to let go.

Eventually, he regained his cool and got his feet back onto the cliff. Breathing heavily, he tucked in and spent several minutes taking a much needed rest, regaining what little strength he had left before tackling the final part of the climb.

There was one problem though: there was no way he would be able to hold on long enough to get all the way to the bottom. His arms were shaking with fatigue and his fingers were torn and bleeding from the rough rock.

He looked around him for any other options. His eyes settled on the large concrete dam that spanned the river valley, halting the river's flow and supplying the mountain with hydroelectric power. It rose about 200 feet out of the water, halfway between him and the bottom. That was a much better option. He just needed to traverse across and downclimb the final 200 feet to solid ground. Of course, it was a little riskier, but he would much rather have taken on the guards or the Reapers than fall to his death, so he made his choice very quickly.

He made to reach for his next hold when suddenly the rock next to him exploded.

Aerrow nearly let go of the cliff in shock. He saw a small hole where the next handhold had once been. He looked around desperately. He saw a flash of light from the side of the valley an instant before another section of rock exploded, this time just centimetres away from his head.

Aerrow couldn't believe it. The Mountain Men had found him. And now they were trying to shoot him.

All thoughts of caution left his head as he suddenly leapt into action. He practically threw himself at holds as he scrambled across the cliff in a desperate attempt to reach the safety of the dam wall.

He covered the ground fast, all the while gun shots continued to ring out, while bullet holes exploded all around him. He had no idea how he hadn't been hit yet, but he didn't care. He was still alive, and as long as he was alive, he had a chance.

He was now in line with the wall. All he needed to do now was traverse a distance of no more 50 feet. He made to move towards it but stopped himself instantly. He stared in dismay at the cliff face between him and the dam. It was completely bare. There was no way he would be able to traverse it.

His mind raced. He needed to make a move fast, or he'd have a bullet in his brain before he knew it. He briefly considered just jumping into the river. The water was now just 200 feet below him. If he got lucky, he could probably survive…

He discounted the thought though as he saw a vine hanging to his right, between him and the dam. It was hanging out from the wall a fair way due to the slight overhang of that particular cliff section.

Aerrow quickly analysed the situation.

_Cliff… vine… dam…_

_That's possible…_

Grasping a good handhold (ironically created by one of the sniper bullets), Aerrow swung himself back and forth, trying to build up enough momentum.

Then he let go.

He brought his foot across him, smearing it on the wall as he moved horizontally, before kicking off...

His hands grasped the vine and he swung wildly towards the dam wall… to safety… Aerrow allowed himself a small grim smile at the thought.

And then he got shot.

A single, lone sniper bullet sizzled through the air and hit him straight in the centre of his back, emerging from his stomach in a sickening burst of blood.

Aerrow instantly went into shock and…

…let go of the vine…

...and he fell.

He tumbled through the air, totally uncontrolled. He fell down… down… down… at a phenomenal pace. The water came rushing up to him faster than he could register and then…

Impact.

…

High above, crouched on a ledge on the side of the valley, the sniper watched Aerrow fall. A small, evil smile crossed his features as Aerrow hit the water with a sickening smash. He kept his rifle trained on the water in case his target had somehow survived, but no-one surfaced. Satisfied that Aerrow was dead, the sniper spoke into his radio "_Mount Weather Command, this is Emerson. Mission accomplished. Target eliminated." _Then he turned his back on the river and headed back for the Mountain.

…

Hitting the water felt like hitting concrete. 200 feet was equal to 60 metres. A very, very long way to fall. Aerrow thrashed around underwater. He felt like life itself had been crushed out of him by the impact. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't co-ordinate his limbs. He couldn't even think straight. All round him the water turned red as blood poured from the bullet wounds in his back and stomach.

His whole body stung like crazy from hitting the water at a speed of roughly 30 metres per second. 100 kilometres per hour. The only reason Aerrow's body hadn't been completely torn open at the ferociousness of the impact was because, through blind luck, he had entered the water feet first with his body vertical, thus minimising the area of his body exposed to the impact.

Somehow, Aerrow found himself washed up on the shore of the river. His lungs managed to start working again and he coughed up water as he gasped for air. Slowly, desperately, he clawed his way up the bank and flopped down on flat ground.

He winced and groaned in pain as he clutched his stomach, trying to halt the flow of blood that poured from the open wound.

As rustle in some nearby bushes alerted him, and despite the weakened, barely conscious state he was in, he rolled onto his stomach, weakly drew on of his swords and grimly held it in front of him in anticipation of an attack.

It was to his absolute surprise then, when it was not a grounder nor some other predator that emerged from the bushes. Rather, it was a large, black and white monitor lizard.

Scar

The Lace Monitor scurried quickly over to where Aerrow lay. At the sight of his ever so faithful Reptilian friend, Aerrow couldn't help but roll over, close his eyes and _laugh _at the sheer incredibleness of the situation. He had no idea why the Lizard was so fixated on him, but thank god he was, otherwise Aerrow knew he quite likely would have been dead quite a while ago.

Aerrow rolled back over to give the lizard a pat on the head, but the sudden movement sent shockwaves of pain ripping through his body, originating from the entry and exit wounds left by the bullet. Grimacing, Aerrow looked down to get a better look.

It was not good. The exit wound in his stomach was large and ragged, such was the damage left by the bullet, out of which a steady flow of blood poured, running down his side and onto the ground, staining the earth in an ugly shade of red.

Going by the size and position of the wound, coupled with the sizeable amount of pain he was in, he was fairly sure several of his internal organs had been ruptured. That was not good. A gut shot was a slow and painful way to die.

He needed help, and fast. There was no way he himself would be able to fix this sort of damage. He needed someone with proper medical expertise, and the only person he could think of was… Clarke

He groaned. Not from the pain of the bullet but from the choice he now faced. If he could even somehow find Clarke, she would know he was alive, something he never wanted to happen. The things was though, if it came down to her thinking he was dead and him actually being dead, he knew which idea he disliked the most.

But how though? How could he cover that much ground to find her? He tried to stand but the pain forced him to collapse back to the ground. He screamed in a combination of frustration and pain. Now he was immobile. He couldn't find help, help would have to find him, and that was highly unlikely. Suddenly though, inspiration struck and his eyes settled on Scar.

"_Scarafa_" he gasped to the Lizard "The girl in the front… Find her… bring her here… go!"

The Lizard paused for several moments, as if trying to understand what he had said. Dread struck Aerrow as he realised that, as smart as the Lizard was, there was no way he could have understood him. Suddenly though, the Lizard spun around and with a flick of its tail, disappeared into the bushes.

Aerrow could only cover his wound with his hand and watch Scar scramble away, hoping to god that he had understood him.

…

Clarke trudged angrily around the grounds of Camp Jaha.

It had been several days since she had arrived and she had mostly recovered from her ordeal. The bullet wound in her shoulder ached occasionally, but she was getting used to it. Ever since she had found the camp her thoughts had been focussed on getting her people out of Mount Weather. She couldn't stop remembering what she had seen… all the grounders locked in those cages, waiting to have their blood drained, a fate her friends would surely share if she couldn't get them out.

Unfortunately, the chancellor – her mother – did not share her concern, instead she dismissed her every time the issue was brought up. Her priority instead was establishing peace with the grounders. It made Clarke's blood boil, knowing that her people, her friends were in danger and there was nothing she could do about it

It didn't help that she was still trying to process what Bellamy had told her, that Aerrow was dead. Over and over again, she had tried to convince herself otherwise, after all, this wasn't the first time she had believed him to be gone forever, but it was no use. It both surprised and annoyed her that she still held him in her heart in such a way. Why should she? He had claimed to love her, only to betray her for another girl. She had never had her heart broken before, and it didn't look like healing any time soon.

Having Bellamy and Raven around helped. Their help, their advice, their constant presence, it grounded her, kept her head together. She was grateful for her friends, but she could not have wished any more for all of them to be with her.

She was distracted from her thoughts by the sight of Bellamy approaching her.

"Everything allright?" he asked her, noticing the sad look on her face

"Yeah" she said somewhat distantly, avoiding eye contact "I just… how do you know Aerrow is dead?"

Bellamy paused, taken by surprise by her sudden question "Trust me… he's dead" he said slowly and sadly

Clarke looked down at the ground briefly. She got the feeling that Bellamy was hiding something from her, something about Aerrow, and she desperately wanted to know what it was.

She opened her mouth to say something but was distracted by movement outside the fence.

"what is it?" Bellamy asked, following her line of sight.

He saw a large black and white Monitor Lizard scurrying at a rapid pace towards them. He recognised the Lizard instantly. _Aerrow._

"I've seen that Lizard" Clarke said in surprise. Bellamy's eyes widened slightly. _If she had seen the Lizard, surely she would have seen Aerrow?_

"what do you mean?" he asked her

"It was with a grounder" Clarke told him as the Lizard approached them

"What?" Bellamy started, confused

"his name was Xavier, he helped me get back to the camp, but then the mountain men took him. This Lizard was with him, it wants us to follow it"

That was easier said than done. The fence was electrified and the gate was guarded, plus her mother wasn't letting her out of her sight, but with a little help from Raven, who got her friend Wick to turn off the fence, she, Bellamy as well as Octavia (who insisted on coming) were out of the camp and following the Lace Monitor

…

The darkness of night began creeping over the forest as the shadows lengthened and light faded from the sky.

Amongst the gloom, a lone figure crawled desperately along the ground.

Aerrow had by now given up hope. He didn't even know how many hours it had been since he had sent Scar off on an against-all-odds journey to find Clarke and bring her to him. It was a desperate plan, one that was highly unlikely not to work. Of course there was no way the Lizard had understood him.

He dragged himself pathetically along the ground with one hand, his other hand still pressed against his stomach in a losing battle to stop the flow of blood that was still oozing out of the gaping hole in his torso.

But now though, now he knew he had lost the battle. He felt his strength fading and he was unable to even crawl. He just flopped over and lay on his back staring up into the night sky. This was it, this was how he was going to die. No lucky escapes this time, no one else there to save him.

Instead he would die as he had lived, alone and in pain. He closed his eyes as his breath started to catch in his throat and he pictured Sara's and Arianna's faces. He knew he would not have to wait too long to see them.

He vaguely registered the sound of heavy footsteps crashing through the forest, coming towards him fast, but he was too weak to do anything. Suddenly, he was being shaken gently, from side to side. He opened his eyes slowly to find himself staring into the soft eyes not of Sara, nor Arianna, but of Clarke.

He was overcome by relief. His desperate plan had somehow worked. He had told Scar to find the girl in the front, the girl in the front of his picture in the cave: Clarke.

"Aerrow!" she gasped in a mix of shock, surprise and panic

"Clarke…" he whispered "help…"

**Massive apologies for the delay in updating this story. I've been pretty busy with school and also I was working flat out to draft the story up to the end of episode 8 (yes, that episode…). It was pretty intense to write and I just needed a bit of a break after that. I'm back now though and will endeavour to update more regularly from now on**


	16. Chapter 16

**I apologise in advance about this chapter because it is very similar to episode seven in season one, except this time Clarke has to save Aerrow's life instead of Finn's, but I have tried to make it as different as possible. I've also had to alter the timeline of the show slightly just to fit everything in, as this chapter and the one following it cover a far greater time period then what is covered at the same time (ep5-6) on the actual show. **

What happened next went by in a hazy blur. Aerrow had virtually no recollection of what happened after he begged Clarke to help him. He vaguely remembered a hard pressure on his stomach… and then being dragged on something… sounds of scraping… the occasional jolt… Clarke's distorted yet distinctly panicked voice in the background.

He slipped in and out of consciousness so many times on the long journey. There were moments when he was awake, and moments when he felt like he was dead. Whenever he could, he forced himself to keep saying over and over again in his head _if he could just hold on. If he could just… hold… on…_

While Aerrow recalled nothing, Clarke remembered everything that happened since she laid eyes on him, the person she once loved with all her heart and was sure was dead.

She couldn't remember exactly how she felt when she first saw him. Relief? Happiness? Joy? Anger? She had no idea. She just remembered seeing him, lying there on the ground, his stomach covered in blood. She remembered how he begged her for help. It was like nothing she had ever heard before. His voice was totally alien, nothing like she remembered it. His voice had always been so strong, so confident. This time though, it was filled with hurt, grief and _fear. _Pure, genuine fear. He was scared, something she had never experienced from him before.

Despite the mixed emotions she held for him, his voice practically cut her in half, and she forgot all the resentment she had for him as it was replaced by a pure, resonating sense of panic. Aerrow was fatally wounded and on the verge of death. If she didn't do something and fast, he would die where he lay.

Acting quickly, she tore a strip of his shirt off and filled it with a small amount of dirt, before placing it over the wound in his stomach (as it was the worse of the entry and exit wounds) and bandaging it to him with some longer strips of cloth they had with them as supplies, plugging the wound and stopping the bleeding, for the time being at least. Clarke could tell that his internal organs were in all sorts of a mess just from looking at the bruising on his torso, but there was nothing she could do here, in the middle of nowhere with no equipment. She needed to get him back to the camp, so with the help of Bellamy and Octavia she constructed a makeshift stretcher, gently rolled Aerrow onto it and began carrying him back to the camp.

The black and white Monitor Lizard ran alongside them, which confused Clarke. It was the same lizard she had seen accompanying Xavier, she was sure of that. It had the same black scar on its back. Why then did it lead her and her friends to Aerrow? It couldn't have been a coincidence. She couldn't help but let her mind wander back to her time with Xavier, how he kept his face hidden yet had protected her with his life. Could Xavier and Aerrow…? surely not.

She shook the thought from her head before it could even properly form. She had to get him back to the camp if she had any chance of saving his life. Despite the fact that there were three of them, Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia hiked through the night in silence, interrupted only by the occasional pained groan from Aerrow. Of course, Clarke had questions, most notably why Bellamy lied to her, but that would have to wait. She couldn't allow herself to be distracted, not now.

There were a few scares along the way. Aerrow kept tossing and turning in his unconsciousness and he had developed a heavy fever, and at one point she thought his heart had stopped beating, but thankfully he pulled through and eventually, the lights of the camp came into view.

Clarke immediately shouted for the guards to open the gate and get help. She saw her mother striding towards her, furious at her for sneaking out of the camp. Her expression quickly changed though when she saw Aerrow's broken, bloodied body lying unconscious on the stretcher, going from enraged to shocked in the blink of an eye.

Abby, the most highly experienced doctor in the camp quickly brought him into the medical tent and laid him on the makeshift metal operating table so she could examine the extent of his injuries properly. Clarke stood by her side, ever desperate to save Aerrow's life, while Bellamy and Octavia stood off to the side, in the corner of the room.

Abby hurriedly removed Aerrow's shirt so she could examine the bullet wound in his stomach. She paused for a small moment, taking in the substantial damage on his skin. There were scars of ragged cuts and gashes, the occasional burn and bullet hole, plus several curious angular black tattoo's on his arms and chest. Abby had seen most of the scars before, but some were new, as were the tattoos.

Abby ignored them though. That part of his body had healed. The bullet hole in his stomach? That was another story entirely. Whatever he had been shot with, the bullet had been big and damaging, a hollow point most likely. An ordinary bullet couldn't have done this much damage. Even just by looking at the size of the ragged wound, Abby could tell that his internal organs had been shredded. There was also a large amount of bruising over his entire body, as if he had taken a huge fall or something. Staring at Aerrow's unconscious, dying body though, it was then that Abby realised…

"Mom what are you doing?" Clarke asked her urgently, noticing that look on her mother's face, as well as her lack of action.

"Clarke…" Abby began

"Aren't you going to help him?" her daughter demanded

"No you don't understand" Abby spoke up sharply "I can't help him"

Clarke was silent. She stared at her mother for several seconds as horror started to build up in her "what do you mean?" she asked slowly

"Clarke, look at him" Abby said to her daughter quietly, gesturing at Aerrow "Whatever he was shot with, it has ruined his insides. The bruising on his body? That could only have been inflicted by a heavy collision with something. You just don't recover from injuries like these. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do"

Clarke stared at her mother, devastated at the thought that, having come so far, Aerrow was going to die anyway.

Abby noticed the utter despair in her daughter's eyes. She recognised that kind of emotion "You had feelings for him, didn't you?" she asked softly

Clarke averted her gaze and forced back tears. She nodded slightly. Abby put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her "I'm sorry" she said "No-one can escape death, not even him. I suggest you say your goodbye's" and then she walked out of the tent, leaving Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia behind, stunned by what Abby had said.

It was a while before anyone spoke. Eventually, Bellamy broke the silence "What are we going to do?" he asked Clarke, walking over to her.

Clarke didn't face him. Her eyes remained locked on Aerrow. The sadness in her eyes suddenly left. It was replaced by fire. She had come this far. She wasn't going to let Aerrow die now. She clenched her fist "I'm going to save him" she stated.

…

The three of them worked together. Octavia and Bellamy collected and sanitised surgical instruments while Clarke cleaned and stitched the wound in Aerrow's back. That was the easy part. The hard bit would be repairing the damage done to his internal organs. They had no anaesthetic so whatever they did, even though he was unconscious, Aerrow would feel everything. The pain alone could kill him.

Clarke cleaned the dirt and dried blood away from the open wound in his stomach so she could get a better look at exactly what she had to do. She had plenty of experience watching her mother perform surgery on people, but even she winced as she saw the damage on the inside of Aerrow's body. Her fears were correct. The organs were absolutely shredded.

No wonder her mother had said nothing could be done. The task ahead of her, stitching and rearranging the inside of Aerrow's body, was monumental. There was another risk too: Aerrow had already lost a lot of blood. If he lost too much more he wouldn't have enough left to deliver enough oxygen to his vital organs. His entire body would shut down. She needed to move fast, but at the same time she had to be extraordinarily careful.

She gingerly picked up the scalpel, took a deep breath to steady herself and then plunged the instrument into Aerrow's body.

_In his unconscious state, Aerrow suddenly felt terrible pain shoot through him. It felt like he was being cut open from the inside out_

Despite being unconscious, Aerrow grunted and groaned in pain, and began thrashing around on the table. "Hold him down" Clarke told Octavia and Bellamy quickly. The two siblings grabbed his arms and legs and held him as still as possible, while Clarke resumed the operation.

_Aerrow was in agony. It was like his entire body was on fire but no matter what he did, he couldn't escape. It was pure torture, like nothing he had ever experienced before._

_Suddenly though, the pain faded away. Images began playing in his head, dreams. _

_He saw flashes in his head._

_Him lying on a table…_

_Masked doctors in lab coats standing over him…_

_One jabbing a syringe directly into his heart, injecting a dark green liquid into him…_

_Him thrashing around, trying to escape the pain… just like he had been doing moments before…_

_And covering everything - like a suffocating blanket - was an overwhelming sense of pure, utter fear._

_And then everything went back to being black. Except now there was no pain. Finally, Aerrow felt relief in his subconscious mind, and was left with the echoes of the dream he had just had._

_Except it didn't feel like an ordinary dreams. They were too… real. He couldn't help but wonder if they weren't in fact just dreams. They felt like more than just dreams. They felt like memories._

…

Clarke breathed an enormous sigh of relief as she snipped the end off of the final stitch in Aerrow's stomach. She couldn't believe that he was even still alive. Even more unbelievable was that fact that, after her mother, the best doctor she knew, said he was un-saveable, it was _her _that had been able to save him. Sure, Bellamy and Octavia had provided invaluable help, but ultimately, it was her who plunged that scalpel into him, her who was somehow able to re-align and repair (as best she could at least) his mangled internal organs, and her who finally stitched the bullet wound shut.

She looked down. Her hands and shirt were covered in his blood. She was overcome by a sudden dizziness and began to feel queasy, partly because of the gruesome improvised surgery she had just performed, and partly because of the unimaginable stress she had been put through in the past 10 hours, ever since she had first laid eyes on Aerrow once more. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Bellamy standing behind her. he didn't say a word. Instead, she let him pull her into a hug. She wrapped her bloody hands around him and let her head rest against his chest. She didn't care about anything. At that point in time, she just needed some form of comfort.

The somewhat peaceful moment was interrupted however, when Aerrow suddenly started gasping for breath and his body starting thrashing around. Clarke instantly pulled herself out of Bellamy's grip and rushed over to him

"What's wrong?" Octavia asked urgently

Clarke looked down once more at the amount of blood on her clothes "The bullet wound… he's lost too much blood!" she stammered "he's not getting enough oxygen!"

"What can we do?" Bellamy asked quickly "can we give him a transfusion?"

"Maybe…" Clarke replied, exasperated "But I don't know what blood type he is. We give him the wrong type and he'll die anyway"

She bashed her hands against a metal table in stress-induced anger. This was too much for her to bear. She had done so much right, and now everything she had done to save Aerrow was falling to pieces.

"She's right" a voice said. The three of them turned as one to see Abby walking back into the tent "his blood is unique, his body only accepts blood of the same type. Give him the wrong type and he will definitely die"

"We have to do something!" Bellamy raised his voice. He turned away, scoured the bench and grabbed a large syringe. He faced Clarke and handed her the syringe "just use my blood" he told her

"But Bellamy… you heard what my mom said" Clarke said in despair "he can die"

"He's going to die anyway" Bellamy said firmly "It's a risk we have to take"

He grabbed Clarkes hand and squeezed it reassuringly "you have to do this" he told her quietly.

Clarke met his gaze, her eyes shining with tears. He was right. Either way Aerrow was going to die. This way he at least had a chance to live. She carefully inserted the syringe into Bellamy's forearm, then drew a large amount of blood. She quickly moved back over to Aerrow, who by now had stopped shaking and was just lying on the table, dead by all appearances, and transfused Bellamy's blood into his system. She then put her hands on Aerrow's cheeks and prayed.

Seconds ticked by, and still there was no change in his condition. Clarke closed her eyes in total despair. It hadn't worked. They had failed. She felt a tear drip from her eye. It landed on Aerrow's cheek. Suddenly he made a slight rasping sound, before his body jerked and he started breathing again. His breaths were shallow and uneven, but at least he was still alive.

Clarke threw her head back in utter relief. They had done it.

"That's not possible" Abby said to herself in disbelief "that blood type… there's only one way…" then without another word she silently left the tent

…

Clarke and Bellamy stood alone in the medical tent, watching Aerrow. Octavia and Abby had left a while ago to get some much needed sleep, but Clarke and Bellamy decided to stay and take care of Aerrow, in case he started seizing again. His condition had stabilised, but he was a long way from being out of the woods.

Clarke moved over to Bellamy.

"you did good, Clarke" he said quietly as she approached.

She lowered her head. The past events were not on her mind at present. There were some things that had been left unanswered.

"Why didn't you tell me he was alive?" Clarke asked him slowly. She saw the blood drain from Bellamy's face as she said it.

Bellamy froze, before he closed his eyes and turned away. He had been dreading this ever since they had found Aerrow lying in a pool of his own blood. He realised then, straight away, that she would want answers, but he didn't know exactly how many of those answers to give her.

"Bellamy, I don't care that you lied to me, ok" Clarke continued, softening her voice "I just want to know why"

"Because he asked me to" Bellamy said quietly

Clarke didn't understand "what?"

"You haven't seen him Clarke" Bellamy continued, voice distant "Since the battle with the grounders he's… different"

"what do you mean?"

"Both of us made it to this camp, but they wouldn't let us look for our friends, for you, and Aerrow he just… snapped"

Bellamy winced as he remembered seeing Aerrow's massacre on the guards, his own people, the blood soaking the ground and the dark, _evil_ look on Aerrow's face as he killed them

"He killed 17 guards Clarke. Before he ran away he made me promise to tell you he was dead, so that you'd never know what he did" Bellamy finished sadly, before turning and walking out of the tent.

Clarke was speechless. On hearing Bellamy's words her mouth dropped open and the shook her head slightly, trying to believe what he said wasn't true, but then she remembered the graves, of the people they had lost so far. _17 of them_

She brushed her hair out of her face and turned around to look at Aerrow's unconscious body. He looked so… peaceful… it was hard for her to think he could be capable of such violence, and yet she had seen it before, against the Reapers and the Grounders, after Sara had been killed (both times). She had no idea what to think anymore. She knew Aerrow had… social issues… but killing his own people? She never thought he would do such a thing. She shocked herself at the thought that he had done it because of her, because he couldn't find her. She flashed back to the moments before the battle with the grounders, when he told her she was the only person he loved that was still alive. Did he still have that feeling? It was in that moment that she realised that love was very powerful, and very, very dangerous.

Clarke put her fingers against Aerrow's wrist, checking his pulse. Suddenly, his fingers curled around and slowly grabbed her hand. Clarke jolted at the touch, and it wasn't just because his fingers were cold.

"Aerrow" Clarke whispered. She stared at his face just as his eyelids fluttered open, revealing a set of deep purple eyes. They stared at her intensely, waves of emotions washing across them, among them relief, joy and dread.

"Hey" he groaned weakly


	17. Chapter 17

It was well over a week before Aerrow was able to walk properly again.

Recovering from a near fatal bullet wound wasn't something that happened overnight, but even so, Clarke was amazed at how quickly his body was healing itself. That he had even survived was a miracle in its own.

Aerrow spent his days mostly sleeping or staring out at the open world, grateful to still be alive. Clarke checked his stiches multiple times a day, but each time she saw him she seemed... distant... like she didn't want to be there. Aerrow couldn't figure out why. He guessed she still resented him for breaking her heart, but he didn't expect her to be this distant.

_Unless she had found out what he had done. _

The more he thought about it, the more he worried that he had lost her forever. Losing her as a partner, he could handle, but losing her presence in his life... that thought scared him more than more than death itself.

As for Clarke, she was still trying to process what Bellamy had told her, how Aerrow had killed all those guards. Try as she might, she couldn't comprehend what could have caused him to do such a thing. She knew what he was capable of doing, but she also had known him to be a caring person underneath his toughened, damaged exterior. She needed answers, and there was only one way to get them.

One day, the fifth since he had been brought back from the dead, Aerrow was desperately trying to get back on his feet. He hated being bedridden like this. He felt so helpless, like there was nothing he could do. He flinched slightly when his bare feet came into contact with the cold metal floor, but quickly overcame the accompanying bad memories from the Ark. He managed to hobble a few steps but was suddenly overcome by nausea, and he staggered backwards and crashed back down on his bed. He groaned in a mix of pain and frustration just as another patient was brought in to the medical tent, having apparently been bitten by a snake. Aerrow eyed the man as Abby treated him. He was middle aged, with grey hair and a thick build, and he glared at Aerrow as soon as he saw him. Aerrow instantly became suspicious when he saw several large puncture marks in the man's leg. The man would only need medical attention if he had been bitten by a venomous snake, and they only left two puncture marks, even then only if their fangs were large enough. He noted the man's angry glare carefully. There would definitely be people who wouldn't have forgotten his massacre. Aerrow kept that thought in his mind as he closed his eyes and tried to get some more rest.

…

It was the sound that alerted him, the sound of metal scraping against metal. It was the faintest sound, and it only lasted a fraction of a second, but that was all Aerrow needed. He had spent over two years of his life with only that sound to listen to. The sound of metal doors opening on the Ark. Or in this case... a metal object being picked up from the surgical table in the middle of the tent...

Aerrow tensed as he heard footsteps approach him. He had to time this perfectly, otherwise he would be dead. He was in no condition to defend himself, so his only weapon was the element of surprise.

He rolled over just as a knife whistled past his head, embedding itself into the pillow his head had been resting on an instant earlier. Aerrow looked up, to find himself staring straight into the enraged eyes of the other 'patient'. He quickly withdrew the knife and brought it down once more, however this time Aerrow was able to catch the man's hands and hold the knife clear of his chest... just.

"You killed my two sons you son of a bitch" he growled

Aerrow said nothing. The man was so focussed on stabbing him that he couldn't see what his opponent was actually doing. Quick as a flash, Aerrow whipped his leg around and kicked the man hard, and he stumbled backwards across the room. Meanwhile Aerrow tried to stand but he was still too weak, so he just rolled feebly out of the bed, landing on his hands and knees on the ground. He staggered to his feet just as the man came back at him, throwing punch after punch. Normally Aerrow would have bested this guy in seconds, but in his weakened state he could barely parry the man's uncoordinated strikes and eventually the man landed one square on his chest. Aerrow flew backwards, crashing into the wall of the tent before slumping to the ground, unable to stand. The man got him in a head lock and began choking him. Aerrow struggled but to no avail. He was simply too weak. Just as his vision began to darken, he heard someone shout, before a loud clang rang out and the iron grip around his neck was released.

Aerrow dropped to the ground, coughing and spluttering. He looked to his side and saw his unconscious attacker lying next to him, and standing over both of them, a heavy piece of piping in her hands, was his saviour: Clarke.

She had simply gone to talk to him to try and find out why he did what he did. Instead, she had walked in to find him being strangled by someone else. She didn't think, she merely acted, grabbing a length of metal pipe and swinging it at the man's head, knocking him out.

She helped Aerrow up off the ground and sat him back down on his bed. "thank you" he wheezed, not making eye contact, instead staring despondently down at the ground.

Clarke made to say something, but she stopped herself. She didn't really know how to act around him anymore, something which did not go undetected by Aerrow

"why are you here, Clarke?" he spoke up, his voice quiet, yet edgy "you checked my stitches an hour ago"

He turned his head to look her in the eye as he finished. Clarke was suddenly overcome by a strange sense of guilt, for going into the tent thinking him as a monster, and she wasn't sure why. She hesitated, before saying what she had come to say

"Bellamy, he told me what you did" she told him, anguish in her voice "He told me how you killed those guards"

Aerrow's face visibly hardened as she said it, but his features were quickly overcome by a deep sadness. He winced and turned his head away from her, then slowly pushed himself back onto his feet. He hobbled over to a bench on the side of the room, where he placed his hands on the edge and lowered his head. Clarke stayed where she was. She watched as he took several deep breaths

"Is it true?" she asked quietly, already knowing the answer

Aerrow raised his head "Yes" he said eventually

Clarke felt a piece of her heart break as he said it. He had already broken her heart, but there was a piece of her that still cared about him, because deep down, she always knew that, despite his flaws, he was a good person. Now she wasn't even sure of that

"Why?" she asked. Her voice cracked as she said it.

"I did what I had to do" he said blankly. If Clarke could see his eyes, she would see that anger burning in them as he relived those moments

"What do you mean?" Clarke raised her voice "Those were good people, innocent people, and you killed them!?"

"Yes!" Aerrow shouted, whirling around to face her. She visibly jumped at the anger in his voice. He saw this and the sadness returned, his conflicting emotions of despair and anger raging inside of him.

He collapsed against the side of the bench and slowly sank to the floor, where he held is head in his hands "you have no idea…" he whispered "no idea…"

Clarke slowly walked over to him, before crouching down in front of his pathetic form "what happened?" she asked gently

Aerrow sniffed. When he spoke, his voice was raspy and distant "Bellamy and I made it to the camp. They locked us up. I got out but then I found him"

"found who?"

Aerrow looked up at her with teary eyes "The person who tortured me, who killed my parents and Arianna"

"then what happened?"

"I killed him" Aerrow sniffed "no hesitation, no remorse. I simply took from him what he took from me. Then they arrested me, they tortured me and then they tried to hang me"

Clarke said nothing. She was trying to comprehend this new information. She realised too late the mistake she had made. She was so focussed on what Aerrow had done to the members of the Ark, she never once stopped to think what they had done to him.

"I managed to escape and then they came after me, so I killed them too" he continued. He stared up at Clarke once more "Everyone is the bad guy Clarke" he sniffed "who you think that is is determined entirely by your perspective"

With that he walked back over to his bed and lay down with his back to her, leaving her to ponder what he had said and how she felt.

"I hope you'll understand one day" he said sadly, not even talking directly to her

Clarke bit her lip. "I do understand Aerrow" she said sadly "but some things are unforgiveable"

With that she walked out of the tent

…

As the days passed Aerrow continued to regain his strength, and on the tenth day he was able to walk without a limp or any major discomfort.

He was lying on his bed, staring sadly at one of his swords as he held it in front of him. He gazed closely at it, taking in all the nicks and imperfections in the shiny silver coandite metal. He closed his eyes sadly as he thought of all the lives he had taken with his weapons since that fateful night of the battle with the grounders. Sometimes, he wished he had been killed in that battle. He had nothing left to live for, two of the three people he had ever loved were dead and the third he was sure he had no chance of being with ever again. He was sure to be cast out of the camp once he had recovered. Where would he go after that? Every group of people living on the ground no doubt wanted to kill him, from the sky people, to the grounders, to the Mountain Men. What was the point of a life like that? For the briefest of moments, he wondered if he should have just stayed in that bed in Mount Weather, next to Alexis…

The thought vanished and he turned his head sharply as he heard someone enter the tent. It was Bellamy "How're you doing?" he said as he approached.

Aerrow winced slightly as he sat up "I've been better" he said blankly

"You were a lot worse too" Bellamy told him "You were pretty messed up when we found you"

Aerrow's face darkened and he turned away

"What happened to you?" Bellamy asked a little hesitantly "after the camp… where did you go?"

Aerrow closed his eyes as he remembered everything that happened since he fled the camp. Finding Clarke again… being captured by the Mountain Men… Alexis… his fateful escape…

"It doesn't matter" he said distantly, before turning his head and looking Bellamy dead in the eye "You told Clarke what I did" he said, voice even, not giving any of his emotions away

Bellamy looked down briefly "she deserved to know" he said simply

Aerrow was motionless for several seconds, and for a brief instant Bellamy was worried about what he would do next, but then Aerrow's face softened and he nodded slightly "I know" he said "She was going to find out eventually. Thank you" his voice was genuine

Bellamy put his hand on Aerrow's shoulder casually, before getting back on his feet and offering him a hand up "Let's go" he said as he pulled Aerrow up

"Go where?" Aerrow asked, confused

"The Chancellor's making an announcement" Bellamy told him seriously "about you"

The two walked out of the medical tent, the first time in ten days that Aerrow had been outside.

He stopped as he saw the number of people gathered outside the tent. None of them seemed very happy to see him back. As he slowly walked towards the centre of the camp, where the announcement was to be made, he could feel the hatred towards him resonating from the hundreds of camp members, and they had every right to be. It sent shivers down his spine. He was worried about what was to come. There was no way he would be allowed to stay, not after what he did. He would be exiled for sure, or worse.

Aerrow and Bellamy came to a stop in front of the main station, next to Clarke and Octavia.

On seeing him Clarke instantly turned away awkwardly. Any trace of happiness in Aerrow vanished at her actions. Suddenly he felt miserable. He knew Clarke may not ever forgive him, that was just the kind of person she was, and that cut him deeper than Dylan Joyce ever had. What surprised him though was when Octavia walked up to him and gave him a soft hug. He was completely taken aback for a second or two, but then he awkwardly wrapped one of his arms around her back.

"I'm glad you're ok" she whispered in his ear

"Thank you" he said back quietly, happy that there was at least one person who didn't think of him as a monster. Over the course of the struggles with the grounders and with the other delinquents at the 100's original camp, Aerrow and Octavia had actually become good friends, and the younger Blake sibling was a reassuring presence in his life. Somehow, she always seemed to be there to support him when he needed it most, such as after Sara had been killed (the first time). He wasn't sure if she knew what he had done, and in truth he wasn't sure if he preferred her knowing about his massacre, or finding out later. He couldn't lose any more friends.

Clarke was much more distant, barely looking at him as he and Bellamy walked up. He had almost expected this. She hadn't visited him since that fifth day. He was sure that he had lost her for good. Still, at least she only knew about his massacre on the guards…

He contemplated telling her how he had saved her from the Reapers, and how he still loved her. That, despite everything he had done, he still had a heart. He decided against it though. It wouldn't make a difference anyway. If a few moments he would no doubt be leaving the camp once more, on his own to face the horrors of the open woodland, either that or hanging dead from a rope.

Suddenly, the doors to the station opened and Clarke's mother, Abby, walked out. Straight away, the chatter of the crowd died down, which Aerrow picked up on straight away

"Where's Kane?" He asked Bellamy

"Trying to make peace with the grounders" Bellamy answered

"So who's the chancellor?"

Bellamy said nothing, he simply nodded at Abby. Aerrow understood straight away, and was suddenly filled with a sense of unease. If Kane was still the chancellor, he would have exiled or executed Aerrow straight away, but Abby Griffin was different. Everything she did was calculated, it had a purpose. She had shown an interest in keeping him alive in the past. He got the feeling that she needed him for something. What made him uneasy was the fact that he had no idea what that something was.

"Members of Camp Jaha" Abby addressed the gathered crowd "We have reached a verdict regarding Aerrow Eroxin and his murder of 17 citizens 3 weeks ago"

The crowd started murmuring again. Aerrow glanced at Clarke. She stared ahead impassively, deliberately not looking at him. Octavia stared at him, but her face was not one of surprise. _She knew_.

"After much discussion" Abby went on "It has been decided that, given the circumstances of their undertaking, Eroxin is pardoned of his crimes"

A collective shout of anger went up among the crowd. Aerrow's mouth dropped open. He hadn't been expecting that. Unknown to Aerrow, Clarke let out the breath she had been holding, too.

"Furthermore, he is allowed to remain within these walls, if he chooses. However" Abby continued, levelling her gaze at him "If he transgresses any further laws, he will be banished from camp. Permanently"

With that, Abby turned and walked back into the main station. Aerrow looked around at the crowd. Many of them seemed to actually understand the decision, given how he had been tortured by the guards before he escaped and massacred them, but there were definitely a large number of people who were very angry indeed. He thought back to man that attacked him in the medical tent. He wouldn't be the last. Now at least he could defend himself but if things went wrong, he would be thrown out of the camp. He had to restrain himself, but he wasn't sure that was possible.

Just as the crowd dispersed, Raven came out of one of the doors to the station. She walked straight over to the group of ex-delinquents. Aerrow noticed the brace on her leg. She would have had nerve damage from having a bullet in her spine for so long. The brace was the only way she was able to walk. He winced slightly as he realised that that easily could have been him had his bullet struck his spine.

"Clarke I need to talk to you" she said as she approached. She cut herself off when she saw Aerrow with them "Welcome back hotshot. Nice to see they didn't try to fry you this time" she said to him with her trademark blunt humour. The corner of Aerrow's mouth twitched at her words, but otherwise he had no reaction.

"What is it Raven?" Clarke asked

"I know why we haven't heard from any of the other Ark stations" she said seriously "Mount Weather's jamming us"

Clarke's eyes widened slightly as she realised what this meant "show me"

Raven led the four of them into the room which had been set up for engineering and communications. It certainly wasn't anything elaborate, it was mostly pieces of metal or electrics lying strewn everywhere, but Raven had made the most of what she had to work with.

Raven fiddled with some buttons on an improvised radio terminal for a few seconds, before a crackling sound burst from the terminal "I tweaked the resonator, and got this" she told them "It's on every frequency. Long range communication is totally screwed. It's also why the range on our walkies sucks, and it's the same signal Monty heard on the Black Box of the Exodus ship"

"Mount Weather crashed the Exodus ship" Clarke exclaimed, realising straight away

"Can you get around the signal?" Bellamy asked

"No" Raven said "But if I can get to the tower that broadcasts it, I can make it go 'boom'"

Aerrow turned away. He could see where this was going, and for the first time, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go along with it. Ever since landing on the ground, he had been ever eager to join Clarke and the others on scouting or hunting trips, he'd been ever eager to fight for what he believed in. But now? He didn't want to go anywhere, he didn't want to do anything. He had no idea what he believed in anymore.

"No one is going anywhere!" Abby said sternly as she walked into the room, followed by the (recently appointed) head of the guard detail

"Mom listen to me" Clarke said, walking over to the chancellor

"What do I have to do to get through to you" Abby hissed, interrupting her daughter "You and your friends are not soldiers"

Aerrow felt his fist clench. It was the same bullshit Kane had said to he and Bellamy. None of the stupid adults seemed to realise that he and his friends knew the terrain and its dangers better than anyone else. On the ground, they were probably the best 'soldiers' in the camp.

"…and continuing to act like you are puts lives at risk" Abby finished

"You don't understand" Clarke replied "Raven found something"

Abby paused

"Mount Weather is jamming our communications" Clarke told her

"It's true" Raven continued "There could be other Ark stations on the ground"

"And more guards" Clarke interjected "you said we don't have enough people to fight the grounders and the Mountain Men. Mom, we're already fighting one"

"Ma'am, the grounder retaliation for what happened at the drop ship could happen at any time and when it does-"

"Then we all die anyway" Aerrow spoke up roughly

The guard looked at him with disdain "I'm sorry?"

Aerrow glared at the guard, and Abby "You don't have enough people to defend an army that size, guns or not. They will wipe you out" he said slowly

"And whose fault is it we don't have the numbers?" the guard shot back, his hand moving to the pistol at his side

Aerrow said nothing, but in his mind he was conjuring up all sorts of terrible things to do

"That's enough" Clarke interjected, giving Aerrow a disapproving look, then staring at her mother "If you don't have the guards then let us go"

Abby stared at the 5 ex-delinquents, weighing up her options "you're not going to stop are you?" she said to Clarke eventually

Clarke shook her head "Not until my friends are safe"

"Ok" Abby relented

"Then it's settled" Clarke said "We're going back to Mount Weather"

Everyone dispersed to gather supplies for the journey, all except Aerrow, who remained where he was, leaning up against the wall of the room. Clarke glanced at him as she went to walk out "Grab your swords Aerrow" she said "You're coming with us"

"And why should I?" Aerrow replied, quietly but evenly

Clarke stopped in her tracks, as if she had been taken completely by surprise by what he had just said. She turned and walked slowly towards him, stopping directly in front of him. Aerrow scanned her features, but she was giving nothing away.

"Because we need you" She said simply, before turning and exiting the room.

Aerrow stared long and hard after her as she walked away, then looked down at the ground and cursed himself. He had a feeling he was going to regret this


	18. Chapter 18

"I can't believe they let Aerrow come" one of the guards grumbled as the group of 12 people trekked through the woods

"He's the best tracker we've got" Bellamy replied in defence of his friend, though very much aware of the unease that Aerrow's presence brought to the group.

"Wrong" Aerrow said suddenly, voice hard. Everyone fixed their eyes on him as he stopped and looked over his shoulder, back at them "I'm the only tracker you've got"

The rest of the group stopped and stared at him with mixed emotions. "Don't forget to look up, the grounders use the trees" Aerrow told them as he turned away and started walking again.

He deliberately positioned himself at the front of the group, so he could zone himself out. He forced himself to keep his eyes forward and ignore how the others were no doubt feeling about him. He knew they weren't comfortable with him being around them, except maybe Bellamy, Raven and Octavia. He asked himself again why he had even bothered coming along. There was no point. There was no point in him doing anything anymore. He had no reason to help these people, hardly any of them even appreciated his presence, so why was he still here, still helping them? He clenched his fist in anger when he realised that the answer has simple: Because Clarke had asked him to.

Clarke…

He glanced at her, walking near the back of the group, deliberately distancing herself from him. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, trying to remove the image of her from his mind. He was really starting to hate being in love with her, but for some reason he couldn't seem to let her go, and it was really starting to screw with his life. If he hadn't been so desperate to find her, he wouldn't have killed all those guards, and he wouldn't be in the position he was in right now, where he was feared like a monster and treated like an enemy. He tried to think back to the time when he and Clarke were together. It felt so far away it was like it had never even happened.

…

A few hours later, the group stopped to rest. They were only about halfway to Mount Weather and the exertion was starting to take its toll on Abby and the guards, who still weren't accustomed to being on the ground and hadn't built up the same level of fitness that Aerrow and the others had.

Aerrow himself was feeling worn down, and his entire abdomen ached – a consequence of his as yet not fully healed bullet wound. He had no idea of the extent of the damage that had been done to his internal organs, he just hoped like hell his body repaired itself as quickly as it usually did. If the grounders showed up looking for revenge on his massacre on their people, he wasn't sure how much of a fight he would be able to put up.

While the others variously sat down or leant against trees, Aerrow snuck off on his own, away from the prying eyes of others. He walked about 100 metres back the way he came, turned around a small rock formation, drew his two swords and struck them together, so they made a high pitched scraping sound. Almost straight away, a bush shook slightly before Scar, his ever faithful Monitor Lizard ran out of it.

Scar had kept his distance from the camp while Aerrow had been in the medical tent, seemingly aware of the danger. If food was particularly short there was a good chance he would end up as dinner. Utilising the exceptional intelligence of Monitor Lizards combined with their memory, a trait shared by few other reptiles, Aerrow had devised a signal to 'call' the Lizard to him, the sound of his swords scraping along each other. Aerrow had again made Scar stay a little way back from the group on this trip as he didn't want Clarke to find out that he and Xavier were in fact the same person. He didn't exactly like being separated from just about the only thing that didn't judge him, that he had a true connection with, and he could tell that Scar didn't like it either, judging by how the lizard was rushing towards him

Aerrow knelt down and the Lizard ran up his arm and onto his chest "Hey buddy" Aerrow said, scratching the Lizard's back "thanks for saving my life". Aerrow was ever grateful for Scar's presence, and he was increasingly feeling like the lizard was the only thing that appreciated him. He found it slightly funny how his only real friend now was a reptile. He briefly thought back to the Ark, before everything went to hell, when he was a popular, fun loving teenager with friends hanging off him. Oh how the times had changed…

Aerrow suddenly heard fast footsteps behind him, too fast and quiet to be a member of the group. _A grounder_. Quick as a flash, he drew his sword, spun it around (throwing Scar off him in the process) and held the blade in front of him, its tip pointed at whoever was approaching him.

Aerrow was shocked then when he saw not a grounder standing in front of him, but Octavia.

He sighed inwardly as he realised she must have spotted him walking away. After a brief moment, he lowered his sword. "What are you doing here?" he asked her. The question came out more sharply than he had intended

"I saw you walk off" Octavia replied quickly "I wondered where you were going"

Aerrow said nothing. Octavia's eyes fell on the black and white Lace Monitor at his feet "I've seen that lizard" she exclaimed

Aerrow looked at her evenly, not sure entire what to do "What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

"It was with someone, Indra called him an 'outsider'" Octavia suddenly looked up at him, eyes wide with surprise as she realised "That was you?"

Aerrow was motionless for several seconds, debating whether to tell her the truth or not. He also wondered who Indra was. He guessed it was the grounder woman who told him where he could find the Reapers. Then he gave her a small, slow nod, before turning his back to her and walking off

"Hey" Octavia called after him. Frustrated he stopped and turned to face her again "why?" she asked "why were you dressed like a grounder?"

Aerrow bit his lip, not sure of how much to reveal "I had to find Clarke" he said simply

"and did you?"

Aerrow nodded again. Octavia was silent for a few seconds as she pieced this information together "Clarke said she had help from a grounder" She said "Why didn't you tell her it was you?"

Aerrow sighed "to protect her" he said sadly "so she would never find out I was alive. It was better that way"

"why is that?" Octavia pressed

Aerrow ground his jaw, but said nothing.

Realising that she wasn't going to get any answers out of him, Octavia turned her attention back to the Monitor Lizard that was coiled protectively around his feet. There was something captivating about it, about the way it blended seamlessly into its surroundings, the way tis forked tongue periodically flicked the air and the silky smoothness of its every movement.

"Does she have a name?" she asked

Aerrow seemed surprised by her question, and took a moment before answering "_Scarafa_" he said somewhat hesitantly "Scar for shor- wait, she?"

"She's a girl" Octavia shrugged "Only female _Varani _grow that large"

A look of surprise came over Aerrow's face. '_Varani'_ must have been the grounder's word for 'Monitor Lizard' He glanced at Scar, then back at Octavia "how do you know that?" he asked

"The grounder's told me"

"Oh…" Aerrow trailed off. At the mention of the grounders the mood between them suddenly became much more awkward, and they stood in silence for what felt like an age

"Do you mind if I touch her?" Octavia asked quietly.

"Huh" Aerrow exclaimed, surprised "Uh… ok… just be careful, _she_ can be aggressive"

Octavia slowly knelt down in front of Scar, and carefully held her hand out towards the lizard, who backed away towards Aerrow and hissed. "It's ok buddy" Aerrow whispered "she's a friend". Scar seemed to understand this and slowly relaxed and let Octavia stroke her back.

Octavia's eyes widened slightly at the unfamiliar sensation of the lizards velvety skin

"They also told me that _Varani _have occasionally been known to form attachments with people, but such occurrences are very rare" Octavia said quietly "and it takes a special kind of person to win their trust"

"I'll take that as a compliment" Aerrow said, staring at the lizard. It felt… weird… to be having a normal conversation again, like nothing else mattered. He found his gaze inadvertently moving to Octavia, who was still focussed on the lizard. He stared at her for more than a few seconds, and for a moment wanted to- _No_

He quickly shook all thoughts of that nature from his head

"so if she's a girl should she have a different name then?" he asked

Octavia shrugged. "Any suggestions?" he pressed

Octavia glance up at him and couldn't help but smirk at the fact that Aerrow Eroxin, the fierce and deadly warrior, was asking her for help to name a lizard

"Well…" she stared, staring at the lizard again "How about Cleo? After Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen. She's certainly just as beautiful"

Aerrow couldn't help but let out a short chuckle "Cleo" he repeated, staring at the Lace Monitor, _his _Lace Monitor "I like it"

Both Aerrow and Octavia stood to their feet. Looking at her face, he could tell there was something still bothering her.

"why are you here?" he asked quietly "really"

Octavia stood dead still suddenly, debating whether or not she actually wanted to go through with this... She took a short, sharp breath in "I want to become a warrior" she said "Lincoln started my training. I want you to finish it"

Aerrow stared at her long and hard. He could see the desire to learn in her eyes and the sword she held in impatient hands. He was suddenly overcome by a sense of déjà vu. This was the exact same situation he had been in only a month or so previously. He thought back to Sara, of how much joy she had brought him. He kept his eyes fixed on Octavia, eager and waiting. He remembered his sudden feelings about her only minutes before. It would be so easy… so easy to say yes…

"No" he said firmly.

She may have been asking the same thing of him that Sara had, and he couldn't deny he felt… something… for Octavia. _But she wasn't Sara. _Sara was irreplaceable.

"What?" Octavia blanched. Clearly she had been expecting a different answer

"I will not train you" Aerrow stated, beginning to walk back to the group.

"Why not?" Octavia asked, chasing after him. She grabbed his shoulder to try and spin him around to face her, only for him to whirl around on his own, grab her shoulders roughly and force her back against a tree

"Because" he hissed "because…" He was unable to finish the sentence. He closed his eyes in despair, and it was then that Octavia realised

"Because of Sara" she said quietly

Aerrow looked straight at her. He stared at her through bloodshot eyes "Yes" he said simply as he let her go "I won't let what happened to Sara happen to you" he turned around again

"yeah, well, I'm not Sara" Octavia said

Aerrow whirled around again "No, you're not" he said, voice hard. The calm, happy mood they had shared only minutes ago had all but disappeared, replaced by the angry tension of their conflicting opinions.

"Sara had discipline and patience" Aerrow told her harshly "You have neither. I saw it in the battle with the grounders, and I see it now. You're too eager, you rush into things, you don't analyse your enemy. That's not going to win you any battles" he paused "It's only going to get you killed"

"Then teach me!" Octavia said, raising her voice slightly

Aerrow remained dead still. "I'm sorry" he said quietly "But I can't". He gave her a sad look before turning around for the final time

Octavia let out a yell of frustration and swung her sword at his back. He turned around just in time and caught her blade with one of his own swords. They held their blades locked in a stalemate. Aerrow looked her dead in the eye with what could only be described as surprise at her action. Octavia simply glared at him "You're wrong about me" she said "and I'm going to prove that"

She broke the stalemate and made to kick him. Aerrow saw the move coming and sidestepped, leaving Octavia unbalanced and vulnerable. He sent her to the ground with a quick and effortless ankle tap. She got to her feet quickly and came at him again, leading with her sword.

The strikes were actually reasonably co-ordinated, but Aerrow was able to fend them away with relative ease. He meant what he had said, Octavia was far from being a skilled warrior, but she definitely had the potential. He just wasn't prepared to unlock that potential, not after what had happened with Sara. He decided he needed to end this, and fast.

Suddenly, he spun himself around, twirling his sword behind his back as he did so, before bringing himself back around to face her, using the momentum of his sword to jab at her. She saw it and sidestepped, missing the blade (just) but in doing so left herself open to attack from her other side, which is exactly what Aerrow intended. In one fluid motion he swung his other sword at hers, hitting it with enough force to knock it out of her hand, before he span himself around and kicked her in her midriff, sending her backwards against a tree.

Completing the spin, Aerrow swung himself around and thrust his sword forwards, deliberately stopping it just centimetres shy of her chest. If he had wanted to, he easily could have killed her then and there. That attack was quickly becoming his signature move. It had taken a long time to put together, and even longer to perfect, but it was worth it. Fast, complicated, brutally effective.

Glaring at Octavia, he lowered his sword "learn from your defeats" he told her quietly "They teach you much more about yourself than your victories"

With that, he walked back and re-joined the others.

**Ok, so, I understand that this chapter may **_**seem **_**a bit pointless, but this does set up some important events for later in the story. I'll say straight away that there will be no Aerrow/Octavia, though looking back it would have been pretty cool to pair them together from the start, as their characters do correlate better than he and Clarke. Plus I just wanted to write a bit more interaction with Scar/Cleo, who I adore. I love Reptiles so I just had to include the Lace Monitor in this story as a companion for Aerrow. Stay tuned for more**


	19. Chapter 19

**Sorry about the delay in uploading this chapter guys. I decided to revise the next few chapters quite extensively in order to get more emotion into my writing, something which I feel has been lacking with all the blood and gore and swordfighting. This chapter is more sort of a filler so to speak. Originally this chapter and the next one were just one chapter, but I decided to split them as the one chapter was simply too long.**

The group resumed their trek and several arduous hours later, Mount Weather came into view.

Aerrow stared at the Mountain through narrowed eyes, remembering everything that had happened to him inside it. He shuddered slightly as he stared at the vertical cliff face. In his minds eye, he pictured himself falling… falling… falling… down into that river. He quickly shook the thought from his head.

Despite the fact that they were desperately in need of information about the Mountain, Aerrow hadn't said anything about him being there. Granted, no one had actually asked him where he had been but even if they had, Aerrow was determined to keep what happened to him there a secret. He didn't like the memories that place had given him. Of what they had done to Lincoln, and what they had done to him. What he had done with Alexis also reigned heavily on his mind. He told himself over and over that he had slept with her in order to escape, but he couldn't ignore the tiniest little part of him that had _enjoyed _being around her, and he was ashamed of himself for feeling that way.

Looking through a salvaged set of binoculars, Raven pointed out the particular peak that the radio towers stood on top of. It was still probably a mile or two away, and even from where he was Aerrow could tell it wouldn't be easy to get too. The terrain between his group and the peak was rough, plus there were grounders, Reapers and god knew what else prowling the forest.

Clarke realised it too "It'll be dark soon, we'll never spot the traps" she said, looking through the binoculars. She lowered them and turned around to face Abby "We should set up camp here, leave at first light"

"I agree" Aerrow said "These woods are treacherous at night"

Clarke faced him and fixed him with a look, one that almost said 'I didn't ask for your opinion'. Aerrow glared back at her. If she hated him that much then why did she even bother asking him to come along. He sighed as he realised… it was simply so she could keep him in her sights, make sure he didn't do anything bad. He probably deserved that, but he still felt betrayed. She didn't seem to realise the situation he had been in and his wildly fluctuating feelings at that fateful point in time. Maybe if she knew what it was like, she would understand… He didn't think it was possible, but he felt his feelings for her starting to crack.

"We're missing two" Abby suddenly exclaimed

Aerrow looked around. Everyone seemed to be there. Everyone except… Bellamy and Octavia

Abby turned to Clarke "where are they" she demanded

Clarke said nothing

"Clarke, we're in enemy territory and their lives are my responsibility"

Clarke sighed "they went to find a way in"

"That's not what this mission is about" Abby said harshly

"It is for them" Clarke said, unmoved

Abby clenched her jaw, forcing herself to remain calm. She turned to one of the guards "Find them" she said "bring them back"

"Yes ma'am" the guard answered "you two come with me" he said to some other guards.

"I'm going with them" Aerrow said, drawing his swords impassively. There was nothing for him to do here anyway. Plus, he realised he had hurt Octavia earlier that day, he at least owed it to her to make things right. He made to walk after the guards but Clarke stood in front of him, blocking his way

"Aerrow, wait" she told him. He stopped at stared at her through narrowed eyes, knowing what she was going to say "we need you here" she said

"Why" he answered back quickly "so you can keep an eye on me?"

When Clarke didn't answer he knew he had hit the nail on the head. Anger suddenly rushed through him, anger at her. She was unable to even look him in the eye, instead she stared down at the swords in his hands

"You'd have to be able to look at me to do that" he growled at her. Clarke again had no answer

"Aerrow…" Raven said quietly, stepping in front of him

"What do you think I'm going to do?" he shouted at her. He looked from Raven to Clarke. It was then that realised she would never forgive him for all the terrible things he had done. What annoyed him was that he expected that she of all people to understand his emotions and his reasons for killing all those people. Why couldn't she understand how devastated he was at losing Sara and believing he had lost her too?

Angry, frustrated and heartbroken, he swung around, hurled one of his swords into the nearest tree and stormed off. Clarke and Raven called out to him but he ignored them. He was through. With everything.

…

He hadn't walked more than a few hundred metres when he heard hurried footsteps coming up behind him.

"Aerrow, come back" he heard Clarke say

"WHY?" he shouted, instantly coming to a halt and whirling around to face her. Clarke stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the blazing fury in his eyes. It shocked her, she had never seen him like this before. She had seen his anger when Sara had been killed, but this was a whole new level. She saw now how this pure, unadulterated rage must have triggered him to kill all those guards.

Aerrow took several fast, heavy breaths. He didn't even try to calm himself down. "You don't need me" he growled as he began walking towards her "you don't love me anymore, I can see that. You don't understand me, you think of me as a monster. So tell me Clarke" he paused, coming face to face with her "Why should I come back?"

Clarke stood still, unable to say anything. Truth be told, she had no idea what to say. She desperately wanted to understand his reasons for killing the guards, and to be able to forgive him, but for some reason she just wasn't able to. She hated herself. She didn't want him in her life, but at the same time she couldn't imagine her life without him in it. She was angry, sad and confused about her feelings all at the same time. Her mind and her heart lay in two very different places, and it was tearing her apart from the inside.

She opened her mouth to say something but never got the chance to, for it was at that moment that an animalistic howl echoed throughout the forest, followed by the cracking of branches as several deer tore past the two humans. Aerrow and Clarke stared after them, confused. They turned to look at what they were running from, and both their eyes widened in shock and fear.

A sickly yellow cloud was moving quickly towards them. Acid fog.

The deadly clouds had wreaked havoc on the 100's original camp in their first encounter with the deadly phenomenon, and the fog had been a constant danger ever since. Upon contact with the fog, skin burned and blistered horribly. It was a slow and very painful way to die.

"acid fog" Clarke breathed in terror

Aerrow was still for a brief moment before his instincts kicked in "Run!" he shouted.

"Acid fog, take cover! Mom, if you can hear me, use the tents!" Clarke yelled into her radio as the two sprinted through the trees

"My tent! I forgot my pack!" She said to Aerrow

"It's ok" he shouted back as he vaulted over a tree stump, all thoughts of their conversation/argument momentarily banished to the back of his mind "I know a safe place!"

They sprinted away from the fog. Clarke had no choice but to trust that Aerrow knew where they were going. Just as they were making progress and putting some distance between them and the deadly fog, they came to a deep ravine that had opened up in the ground. It was about three metres wide and was very long. They didn't have time to skirt around it. They had no choice but to jump over it.

Aerrow sprinted ahead, building vital momentum. He leapt into the air as he reach the ravine, vaulting the distance easily. He landed lightly on his feet on the other side, before turning around and waiting for Clarke to follow. She made to do the same thing but just as she reached the edge of the ravine, she looked down. She saw how deep it was and hesitated.

As such, she did not have enough speed to propel her over to the other side. Instead, she started falling before she reached the other side. She thrust her hands out to grab the edge… and missed

Her fingertips fell agonisingly short of the edge and she dropped below it. She was instantly filled with terror and screamed as she realised what awaited her…

…Only it didn't come. She stopped falling. She felt something grab her hand and her fall was halted. She looked up and saw… Aerrow. He had thrown himself forward and grabbed her wrist at the last moment, and was now holding her up with all his strength.

They weren't out of danger yet though. The fog was still coming. Aerrow looked up and saw it approaching, and Clarke saw something ignite in his eyes. They were instantly focussed, determined beyond belief not to let her die. She had only seen that look once before… in Xavier's eyes… back in that house… when he had saved her from the Hunters.

As Aerrow pulled her up and out of the ravine, she put two and two together and realised, shockingly, that Aerrow and Xavier were the same person. She had no time to elaborate on this revelation however, as Aerrow grabbed her hand and they resumed their run from the fog

…

They made it just in time. Aerrow's safe haven was further away than he had thought, and both he and Clarke had begun to tire out, him more so due to his bullet wound, but just as the fog was closing in on them and they could feel their skin beginning to burn, Aerrow spotted the carving marking the entrance and both of them dived in to the tunnel. Aerrow pulled a rock over the entrance to prevent the fog from getting inside but just before he did one more being scurried inside: Cleo

Leaving his newly-renamed lizard to do her own thing, Aerrow led Clarke down the tunnel, before it opened up and Aerrow found himself in a familiar place… his cave.

Clarke emerged into the vast underground chasm and instantly her eyes widened. She took in the intricate patterns in the rock, the bright blue water of the pool of water and the glow worms illuminating the entire cave in a soft green light.

Striking his remaining sword against a piece of titanium metal from the drop ship, Aerrow created a spark that lit a pile of dry grass, and soon the cave was properly lit up by the glow of a fire.

"Are you ok?" he asked her quietly, walking up and standing in front of her

Clarke's response was delayed. This wasn't exactly an ideal situation for her: trapped in a cave by acid fog with the one person she didn't want to be trapped in a cave with. "yeah… I'm ok" she said eventually. She turned and looked at something on the wall of the cave, behind the fire.

Its light illuminated a painting of three people on the wall. Staring closely at it, Clarke saw an unfamiliar dark haired girl, a girl that looked at lot like Sara and… one that looked at lot like her. She glanced from the painting to Aerrow, who was crouched over the still-growing fire, oblivious to her, and then back again. She realised that this was _his _cave. Where he had left the drop ship to go off on his own… where he had got together with Sara (that thought made her slightly uncomfortable) and no doubt where he had been hiding after the battle with the grounders.

She also saw a trail of blood on the ground, and noticed a pungent stench of decaying flesh. She followed the blood trail and her eyes came to rest on the long dead body of a grounder. A pool of dried blood lay around him, originating from a massive stab wound on either side of his head. The width of the wounds matched the width of Aerrow's swords. She instantly realised how the grounder had died.

Following her gaze, Aerrow saw the body, and he remembered… He was suddenly overcome by guilt and regret. He had totally forgotten what he had done in this cave, the people he had killed. He rushed over, grabbed one of the animal pelts he had hung on a wall and used it to cover the grounder's body.

He stared up at Clarke, his face riddled with grief. He was being destroyed by this monster he had become. Clarke stared back at him, face hard, not giving her feelings away. In that moment, he knew that any chance of getting her back had surely vanished.

Trapped in a cave with nothing to do but wait for the fog to clear, both Aerrow and Clarke quickly became restless. Clarke paced back and forth, worrying about her mother and if she had heard her message to use the tents. Aerrow meanwhile got up and grasped the roof of the cave, before lifting his feet up and commencing a climbing traverse along the roof. Normally, climbing like this had helped him clear his thoughts, but this time thoughts of Clarke and how she surely thought of him invaded every inch of his mind. He remembered the hallucination he had of her not so long ago. She called him a monster then, and thought of him as a monster now. The hallucination had been right all along.

Suddenly, Aerrow positioned his fingers slightly wrong on a hold and as he reached for the next one, his feet slipped and he dropped from the roof and landed in the water with a loud splash.

He yelled in anger and slammed his hands down into the water. Clarke jolted slightly at the noise. "Aerrow, stop" she said to him softly. He instantly stood still and looked directly at her, breathing heavily.

Staring at him, seeing what he had become, her thoughts were filled with a mix of resentment and deep, deep concern. For the first time, she looked closely at him and saw how he had changed since she had last seen him. His hair was longer, wilder than it had been at the dropship. She saw the braid with the yellow feather in it. She wondered if that was in memory of Sara. His face had changed as well. His eyes, which had previously been bright and gleaming, were now dark and unreadable. She saw the ugly acid scarring around his left eye. It changed the way he looked. His face, once ruggedly handsome, had been taken over by the scarring, it was all she could focus on. Her heart sank as she realised that was him now. The once seemingly invincible warrior had been scarred, damaged by the battles he had fought, and the losses he had been forced to endure.

In truth, she didn't hate him as he thought, she was still trying to come to terms with what he had become, how he had changed. The old Aerrow would never have killed those guards, let alone in the way Bellamy had described, but staring at him, she now knew that the old Aerrow was gone. Indeed, the old Clarke would not have held an innocent girl at knife point to try and find her friends. She realised sadly that they had all been changed since landing on the ground. Whether that was for better or for worse, she didn't know. She suspected it was the latter.

Suddenly, a scuffing noise echoed around the cave before a large black and white lizard poked its head out of the dark tunnel. The same goddamn lizard she had seen with Xavier, and the same lizard that had led her to Aerrow. The questions that had briefly filled her head now came back in full force.

"This Lizard…" she started

"What?" Aerrow looked at her suddenly

"I was helped back to the camp by a grounder named Xavier, the lizard was with him. And then… it led me to you, when we found you nearly dead" she told him, keeping her voice soft

Aerrow said nothing

"It was you all along, wasn't it" she said hesitantly "you and Xavier, you are the same person" she already knew the answer, but she needed to hear him say it

Aerrow stood dead still, stunned, and completely unsure of what to say. He so desperately wanted to answer that question, to tell her the truth, to tell her…

"No" he said quietly, shaking his head

He saw Clarke's face change as he said it. She had looked so hopeful, like she _wanted_ him to say yes, so she could believe he was still him. "Don't lie to me Aerrow" she said, her voice quiet, but edgy "I know it was you. I saw your eyes, you and Xavier, you had the same look in them. You can't deny that it was you the whole time"

Aerrow looked down at his feet. He sniffed before looking back up at her "You're wrong" he said quietly but firmly "I am not Xavier"

Clarke opened her mouth to say something but Aerrow interrupted her "Xavier was strong and kind. He cared about the person he loved" he levelled his eyes on her as he said it. Clarke realised what he meant instantly. Her eyes widened slightly. He did still love her. He had said those words before but never had they been so sincere. Before she could say anything, Aerrow looked away, and shook his head sadly "I'm just a broken, scarred shell, trapped in a cave with a girl who doesn't love me back, and memories of the girl that I used to love"

Clarke didn't know what to say. She followed his eyeline and saw once more the painting on the wall. He was looking not at her though, but at Sara. Clarke felt something burn up in her chest. _Sara._ Always Sara. No matter what she did, she would never be as good in his eyes as Sara. He would never care about her as much as he had about Sara.

"Sara? After all this time… you still love her?" she said in disbelief

Aerrow looked down, almost ashamed "I can't deny my feelings Clarke, or what they've caused me to do" he whispered "Nor do I expect you to understand"

Clarke bit her lip "you're right" she said quietly "I don't understand". She gently grasped the yellow feather in his braid of hair "and I can't love you when you're still in love with someone who's dead"


	20. Chapter 20

**This is the chapter that has resulted in so many delays in uploading for me. I spent so much time figuring out how to write this chapter and what I wanted to write in it, as it is crucial in developing the dynamic between Aerrow and Clarke for the rest of the story. This chapter was originally very different, but after much writing and re-writing, I'm fairly happy with how the chapter turned out.**

_Anger... fear… panic…_

_The emotions cut through him worse than the sniper bullet_

_Exemplified by the fact that as hard as he struggled, he couldn't escape._

_He was trapped._

_He saw flashes, the same ones he had seen when he was unconscious and dying_

_He again saw himself on the metal operating table, surrounded by surgeons, being injected with a green liquid. He felt his body spasm and his breathing hitch as he reacted violently to whatever he had been injected with. As quickly as they came, the spasms stopped, and he saw nothing but black_

_That calm serenity didn't last long though. Noise – pressure – began to build up inside his head, a constant barrage of whispered voices of people he used to know. He heard his parents, Arianna, Clarke, Sara and many others, and he had no idea what they were saying. It was torture. He clutched his head and screamed._

_More flashes, ones he recognised this time_

_Dylan slaughtering Arianna…_

_Sara's fingers slipping through his as she was felled by Tristan…_

_Suddenly, the visions changed again, and once more he had no idea what was happening _

_He felt pain, more overwhelming and unbearable than anything he had felt before. He was in a tank of some sort, surrounded by a translucent liquid, with needles all over him, puncturing his skin and ripping him apart._

_And then, horrifically, he saw himself standing in front of Clarke, driving a sword into her chest. Her body dropped and he turned and looked in a mirror._

_Most shocking of all though, was the face staring back at him wasn't his. It was Sara's…_

Aerrow awoke with a scream.

He sat up instantly, muscles tensed and rigid.

Breathing heavily and with his whole body trembling, he frantically looked around him and slowly the walls of his cave came back into focus. He must have fallen asleep at some point.

What lingered was that overwhelming sense of fear and danger. He whipped his head around, trying to find his sword. He snatched it off the ground when suddenly, he felt a soft, but firm grip on his wrist.

"Calm down Aerrow!" a female voice said to him "It was a dream"

Still caught up in the effects of the dream, Aerrow quickly shook the hand off his wrist, kicked its owner backwards and snatched his sword off the ground. He whipped around to face his attacker, sword held in front of him ready to strike. His hands were gripped so tightly around the hilt that his knuckles had already turned white.

Finally, his eyesight cleared and he began to see sense. He saw in front of him not an attacker, but Clarke. She was pressed back against the wall of the cave, looking utterly terrified

"It was a dream…" she whispered, _eyes begging him for her life_.

Still shaking with fear and adrenaline, Aerrow glanced from her face back to the sword on his hands, and he suddenly realised what he had done, _what he had been about to do_. Instantly, he released the grip on the sword and it clattered to the ground, before he hurriedly kicked it away. Then he dropped to the ground and cried.

He didn't even try to conceal his emotions from her as he had done in the past. Instead held his head in his hands and sobbed violently, utterly horrified of himself and what he had become. He closed his eyes to try and calm down but all he saw was the image from his dream, of Clarke standing in front of him, his sword impaled in her chest as blood stared pouring down her shirt. It horrified him, but what scared him even more was, just like last time, this images somehow felt too _real _to just be dreams.

He was expecting Clarke to stay where she was, or maybe even shoot back up the tunnel and take her chances with the acid fog. Surely she had a better chance of survival out there then in here with him.

So he was surprised then when he heard her kneel down in front of him and take his hands in hers. "Breathe, Aerrow. Breathe…" she soothed, lightly brushing her thumbs over the back of his palms.

He briefly glanced up at her but immediately lowered his head. He was unable to make eye contact with her, and was utterly ashamed of what he had just done to her. He had hurt her emotionally in the past but _never, ever _had he hurt her physically. Until now.

Eventually, he got his breathing back under control and leaned his back against the wall of the cave, staring despondently up at the roof, eyes still slick with tears.

Clarke sat down beside him "do you want to talk about it?

Aerrow blinked rapidly and sniffed, debating whether or not to share his tortured visions with her. He felt Cleo crawl onto him, before settling in his lap and staring up at him with beg, concerned eyes. Aerrow decided that it would probably be better to share the cause of his torture with her while she was willing to listen. It might be the only chance he had to share anything with her.

"I keep having these visions…" he rasped, avoiding eye contact "ever since you found me, I can't stop them… The thing is though… they don't feel like dreams… they feel real, like I've experienced this before"

Clarke took a deep breath in, unsure what to make of this information "What happens in them?" the pressed

"I'm lying on a table… these scientists are standing over me… they inject me with something…" he trailed off

Clarke noted the panicked tone in his voice. Something was happening to him, and even he didn't know what.

"And then this time it was different" he continued, voice distant "I saw you…"

"And what happened?" Clarke asked a little hesitantly

Aerrow glanced at her. She saw the utter terror in his eyes as he remembered. "I…" he started before his bottom lip quivered and he broke down again.

This time Clarke held him close, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him in to her chest, for no reason other than to try and calm him down. Eager to avoid being squished between the two humans, Cleo crawled away and back into the darker tunnel.

Meanwhile, Aerrow let his head hang low, resting it just under Clarke's chin as his shoulders heaved. Everything he had experienced, everything he had done, it had suddenly caught up to him and he could no longer handle it.

"Its ok… its ok" she whispered in his ear, running her hand up and down his upper arm.

"I'm sorry Clarke_" _he sobbed into her shoulder "I'm so sorry…"

Clarke said nothing. She didn't know what to say. She had no idea that this was going to happen. So she just held him in her arms until he began to calm down again.

"I never asked you this" Clarke said quietly "But how did you survive the battle. I locked you out…" her voice cracked as she said the last word.

Aerrow took a deep breath, as he raised himself out of her arms and leant back against the wall again. "I killed Tristan with an acid grenade" he croaked "It's how I got this" he touched the scar around his eye "Then while the rest were distracted I climbed on top of the drop ship. It shielded me from the fire"

He paused

"The next day, I climbed down, and you were gone, all of you, and then I saw her"

"Her?"

Aerrow glanced at Clarke and sniffed "Do you want to know why I can't let go of Sara?"

Clarke locked eyes on him, not needing to say anything. The gentle look in her eyes told him that he could tell her.

"That next day, I saw her skeleton" his voice sounded a million miles away "In it was a foetus"

Clarkes eyes widened slightly as she realised "She… she was pregnant?" she stammered

"She died carrying _my _child, Clarke" Aerrow said, his voice raspy and full of grief "I lost two lives that night, not just one"

Clarke stared at him with soft eyes. Now, finally, she understood why he had become the person he was now. She may not have liked it, but she couldn't deny the unshakeable bond he had with Sara. It was almost like the two were meant to be together. So to have her ripped away from him so violently and then to discover she had been carrying his child… Clarke couldn't even imagine how he must have felt. Mentally she cursed herself for the mistake she had made. She had been so focussed on what he had become that she didn't even stop to ask him _why _he had become that person.

"what did you do after that?" she asked in a slightly shaky voice.

Aerrow glanced at her, and as he remembered what happened she saw something ignite in his eyes, something dark.

"I found the grounders" he whispered, voice suddenly maliciously dark "and I killed them"

He swallowed but did not break eye contact. He began to shake again as his eyes narrowed with anger

"all of them" he growled "they're nothing but animals. So I slaughtered them like animals, in the same way they slaughtered her"

Aerrow saw the fear in her eyes come back as he spoke. He stopped himself, then raised his hand in front of him and clenched it tightly into a fist as he fought to control himself.

"I killed the guards because I wanted to find you" he said sadly "I killed the grounders because they deserved it"

Clarke's eyes widened as she heard this. He hadn't just massacred the guards. He had also killed the grounders. She realised why he was now so unstable. He had taken a lot of lives in a very short amount of time, and now she could see how he was tearing himself apart trying to deal with it. And suddenly, she saw that he wasn't this monster she had thought him of. He wasn't a killer at heart. He had been lost and consumed by grief, and she knew a little of what that did to people. In that moment, all her feelings of hostility towards him dissipated and were replaced by and overwhelming feeling of sorrow and regret that right when he needed her most, she wasn't there.

She said nothing as she reached out and grabbed his hand, before entwining her fingers with his.

Aerrow looked up at her, almost surprised at the gesture. He looked down at their hands guiltily "I meant what I said Clarke: you're too good for me, you don't deserve someone like me, you deserve better" he told her, echoing what he had said all those nights ago as Xavier "and I don't deserve your forgiveness either"

He made to pull his hand away but she held tight

"Like it or not, we still need you Aerrow" she told him gently "I still need you"

Aerrow focussed on her as she said it

"You can't change the past" she continued "so are you going to continue to torture yourself with it, or are you going to come back to the present, and live"

Aerrow stared long and hard at her.

"and I do forgive you" she added.

Aerrow did not know what came over him, but suddenly he felt an overwhelming desire surge through him. A desire to be with her again, to hold her close, to kiss her, to-

Acting purely on instinctual impulse, he suddenly leaned in to kiss her, but was interrupted by a short, low pitched sound coming to his right. Both Aerrow and Clarke quickly turned to see Cleo stationed at the entrance to the cave. The Lace Monitor then jerked her head up at the tunnel.

Aerrow glanced back at Clarke, completely unsure of what had just happened between them and, if he was honest, a little embarrassed. She looked tense, as if she wanted to move away. He figured she had every right to. She might have forgiven him, but by no means did that imply that she wanted to get back together with him.

"I guess that means the fog has cleared" he said awkwardly.

The two then quickly gathered their gear and followed Cleo up the tunnel and back to the surface.

Emerged first. He stood still, swaying slightly. He took a deep breath in, inhaling the scent of the fresh air. He thought back briefly to what had transpired just moments before. He glanced at Clarke as she climbed out of the tunnel, totally unsure of what to do now, and especially of what the two were now... He could see on her face that she was thinking the same thing.

"Clarke… what happened down there…" he began "I didn't mean to…" he trailed off

Clarke just stood in front of him and shook her head slightly "It doesn't matter, let's get back to the others" she said, before her mouth curled into a small smile "Xavier"

He looked at her as she said the name he had adopted briefly, and the corner of his mouth twitched. She saw something in his eyes, the slightest spark of happiness, and for a brief moment, the purple gleam returned to them. She smiled. The moment was only very short, but for that instant, she saw the old Aerrow still in there somewhere.

The two of them – along with Cleo, who scurried alongside Aerrow for the first time in weeks, much to the Lace Monitors liking - walked back the way they had come, and eventually they rejoined Abby and the others.

Clarke walked straight up to her mother, and the two hugged tightly, relieved that each other was still alive. Abby told Clarke how Raven had figured out how to listen to Mount Weather, and that they were going to get their friends out.

Aerrow stood off to the side, still unsure of how he felt. Raven noticed and walked slowly up to him

"I'm sorry" he said to her quietly

She looked his straight in the eye "we all have battle scars Aerrow" she said "suck it up, and build a brace for yours"

Aerrow smiled slightly at her advice. It would take a while, but maybe, just maybe, he could learn to live again.

Suddenly, a cry of "help" rang out nearby. Everyone turned in the direction the noise had come from. "Stay here Chancellor" said the guards as they grabbed their weapons and went over to investigate.

Aerrow pulled his other sword out of the tree, just as a figure came stumbling over a rise, revealing themselves to be someone none of them thought would ever see again: Thelonius Jaha. The former Chancellor of the Ark had sacrificed his chance of survival to send the rest of the Ark to the ground, so to see him here, alive, was something no one had been expected.

The man looked beaten and broken, and was covered in blood. Around his wrists were two loops of rope, as if he had been held prisoner. Aerrow suddenly got a bad feeling about where he had been.

Panting, Thelonius dropped to his knees, exhausted. He stared at the camp bearing his name which stood majestically in front of him, bathed in the afternoon sunlight. "I have a message, from the Commander" he rasped

Aerrow whipped his head up at those words. His hunch had been correct. He had been held captive by the grounders, by _The Commander _nonetheless. That they released him only meant one thing: they wanted him to tell his people something. He suddenly remembered the battle at the drop ship… where hundreds of grounders had been killed… as well as his subsequent massacre on that village (he winced as he remembered that… at least Clarke and the others didn't know about that). He didn't take the grounders as the 'forgive and forget' type. There would be consequences

Thelonius looked up at Abby, the fear in his eyes was tangible "Leave… Or die" he told them.

Several of their group gasped, Clarke and Abby stared at Thelonius in abstract horror. Aerrow closed his eyes and turned away. This was his fault.

"We have two days" Thelonius finished, leaving the others to deliberate their deathly situation.


	21. Chapter 21

The entire camp had been on edge ever since the group had returned and delivered the news of the Commander's threat. Everybody was restless, not knowing what their fate would be.

Aerrow had kept to himself. He deliberately distanced himself from the others and stayed very quiet, not wanting anyone to discover the real reason behind their predicament. Clarke might have forgiven him for his massacres, but only because of her incredible ability to empathise and her intricate understanding of how he felt about Sara, especially now that she knew the truth about them. He doubted anyone else would be so considerate.

He passed the time by sleeping in the little shelter he'd constructed for himself out of scrap metal. It was located behind the main station where people rarely went, giving him the solitude he so desperately desired at that point in time. He had spent several evenings just staring out at the landscape, with Cleo fast asleep on his lap, watching the sun go down. He was taking it easy in order to give his bullet wound the best chance to heal as quickly as possible. His recovery was going well, he had regained full range of movement in his torso and all that really lingered was a dull ache in his stomach. His mental wounds, however, were taking far longer to heal.

He still wasn't sure exactly how sincere Clarke had been in forgiving him, and the moment he went to kiss her still played heavily on his mind. He was sure that after everything that happened, she had little or no interest in getting back together with him, and he knew she had every reason to feel that way, and as such he had tried to avoid her ever since, at least until both of them could figure out how they felt. What being stuck in the cave had given him though was a sense of closure. He now knew that Clarke understood the grief he had gone through and his motives for slaughtering the grounders and the guards, and as such his mind was working much more clearly now that the burden of Clarke's anger had been lifted from his shoulders. What remained was his own heavy, lingering anger.

It was the one thing he hadn't been able to shake, and the grounder's threat had only solidified those underlying emotions. After everything, he still hated them for what they did to Sara. What Clarke had realised was the truth, he was unable to love her because he was unwilling to let go of Sara's memory. He was still in love with her, even though she was dead.

He stared intensely at his swords which were propped up on the side of the wall of his shelter. The shiny coandite metal glittered in the sunlight. He wondered if, in not very long at all, they would be stained in blood once more. He had fought the grounders once before, that time to protect the 100's camp. This time it wold be for no reason other than for himself, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to do that, given how much of his soul it had cost him last time.

People milled around the door to the station, anxious to hear an announcement from their Chancellor. On the second day since hearing the news, a mere 16 hours before their deadline was up, one of the guards opened the door and Abby - joined by Thelonius - walked out.

The two stood above the crowd – among them Clarke and Aerrow – who had quickly gathered around, awaiting to hear the outcome of their future.

"By now you've all heard the rumour, and unfortunately it's true. The grounders are coming" Abby began. She was a little hesitant but made sure to project her voice strongly and confidently.

The crowd started whispering as fear and panic started to take hold.

"We have a difficult decision to make" Abby continued, silencing the whispers. "Thankfully, Chancellor Jaha has found his way back to us, and we're discussing all options".

"But to be safe, we need to pack, now" Thelonius spoke up, "Whatever you can carry, we may need to leave at a moment's notice".

"Where would we go?" someone in the crowd asked.

Aerrow briefly thought of where the 100 had originally tried to flee to in the face of the first grounder attack, to 'the ocean to the east', but he decided against saying anything. Beside him, Clarke was also silent. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing. Cleo meanwhile was perched vigilantly on his shoulder, eyeing the nearby citizens warily.

"I don't know" Thelonius answered, "But I heard of a place: A City of Light. It's across the deadzone".

"what makes you think we'll make it there?" someone else asked.

"Because we made it here" Thelonius responded quickly, "I have faith. And right now, considering the alternative, that's good enough for me".

"Not for us" Clarke spoke up strongly. Aerrow glanced at her, as did everyone else. "If we leave here what happens to our people in Mount Weather?" her voice was one of defiance. She wasn't ready to leave her friends behind.

"As your mother said" Thelonius told her, "that is a very difficult decision to make" he paused. "But the time has come for all of us to ask: is this how the story of our people ends? Did we come all this way, just to die tomorrow?".

"_yes" _Aerrow thought. Thelonius had sent he, Clarke and the others to the ground to die. it was only once his own ass was at risk that he cared about doing anything.

"Because if we're not gone by the time that sun rises, that is exactly what will happen" Thelonius finished.

Clarke turned to Aerrow, almost expecting him to say something, but he didn't. He stared ahead, eyes and face hard. She desperately hoped that, if it came to it, he would stand by her side and fight the grounders off again, but in the pit of her stomach she felt a sense of dread that this time, he wouldn't want to, given how much he had lost the last time.

"No decision's been made" Abby said to the crowd, "In the meantime, please report to your station supervisor and gather emergency supplies".

She and Thelonius then walked back into the station, leaving the crowd to debate what they were to do. Clarke made to go after then, but she was stopped by Bellamy, who appeared seemingly from nowhere and grabbed her arm.

"Where have you been?" she asked him.

"At the dropship" he answered seriously, "I need you to come back with me right now".

"Why what's happened?"

"I'll explain on the way. Bring your med-kit, meet me at Raven's gate".

Bellamy took off, leaving Clarke and Aerrow standing alone amongst the dispersing crowd.

"This is my fault" he said quietly, "The grounders are attacking because of me".

"The grounders are attacking because that's what they do" Clarke responded quickly. He knew that wasn't true, and he was fairly sure she knew it wasn't true also, but he still appreciated her efforts to re-assure him. It told him she no longer thought him a monster, which on its own made him feel better.

"Go with Bellamy to the dropship" he told her, deliberately changing the topic, "your mother said no decision's been made. If that changes, I'll let you know".

"Ok" Clarke nodded. She turned away to meet up with Bellamy. She sighed, before walking through the crowd towards Raven's gate.

…

As the afternoon drew on and the sun got lower in the sky, amidst the hustle and bustle of the nervous citizens, a series of clangs could be heard resonating from the far corner of the camp.

Over by the southern corner of the boundary fence stood a solid metal pole, against which Aerrow bashed his two swords over and over again, practising his attacks and co-ordinating them. Cleo lay on the ground nearby, casually chewing on the leg bone of a pig.

He had not trained like this in a very long time, and it was only once he had started that he realised how much he missed it. Bashing the pole helped sharpen his mind, and allowed him to zone out and forget everything else that had gone on in his life.

Alexis's training had definitely helped him. He visibly noticed how much faster he was able to perform his attacks, and how much more focussed and co-ordinated the strikes were. He thought back his time in her presence, including the night they had spent together. _That night.._. Seeing how much she had helped him improve his technique, and taught him how to control his anger, he began to wonder if indeed he had felt something for her.

So zoned out was he that he didn't hear the footsteps coming up behind him

"Eroxin" a voice called out.

Startled, Aerrow span around in an instant, holding his swords in front of him, ready to attack. The guard that had approached him instantly held his gun to his shoulder, ready to fire.

Suddenly, Aerrow's eyes shot open and he lowered his swords. He recognised the guard "Sargent Miller?" he breathed in disbelief.

_Sargent David Miller had been Aerrow's squad leader when he first got accepted into the guard at age 8, the youngest ever member. The young Aerrow had only been a cadet but already he was showing great promise, frequently displaying a physical and mental aptitude far greater than his peers. Seeing the young guard's potential, the Captain of the Guard assigned David to personally oversee Aerrow's development. He had taught the child a great many things, and had seen him grow from an eager young child, into a focussed, determined young man. Right up until Aerrow was arrested for six counts of murder and sent to the skybox, he had always thought of his mentor as a second father._

Sargent Miller nodded slowly "We meet again Aerrow".

Unbeknown to Aerrow, David had actually been watching him for the past 10 minutes or so.

He looked at Aerrow with sad eyes. He tried not to stare, but it was hard not to. David had seen Aerrow grow and develop as a guard but now he seemed totally different. His face was harder, more angular it seemed. He had grown out his short-cut hair, and the friendly, bright spark in his purple eyes was gone, replaced by a dull, dark, emotionless sheen. David found himself feeling sorry for the young man. When Aerrow was arrested on the Ark, he straight away had his doubts that he really was a murderer, he just wasn't that kind of person, yet he had seen the same boy he had mentored dice up 18 of his fellow guards only a few weeks previously. Looking at the pain that was evident in his features however, David realised that he deeply regretted his actions.

"It's… good to see you again sir" Aerrow said hesitantly, almost as if he was unable to say something positive.

"You too, Aerrow" David said, before pausing. "You've grown up since we last met".

Aerrow's face suddenly changed, as deep sadness washed over it. He looked down at himself. Not one day went by when he wished he hadn't 'grown up', that he hadn't been appointed to a guard squadron ahead of Dylan, That Arianna hadn't been killed…

He sniffed as he looked up "Why are you here?" he asked, his voice disjointed and tinged with sadness.

"The decision has been made" David said seriously, "we're evacuating".

Aerrow's face suddenly hardened. Of course Abby and Thelonius had taken the easy way, _the weak way_. He had no time to elaborate though. He stowed his swords and made to walk off. He needed to tell Clarke.

David suddenly grabbed his arm. "Aerrow wait" he said. Aerrow felt the strength in his grip and the urgency in his voice. "My son, Nathan, is still inside that Mountain" he told him, "I've been forced to leave with everyone else. I need you to get him and the others out".

Aerrow stared at David, his mind whirring with thoughts and emotions. Nathan (simply known as 'Miller' to the other delinquents) was indeed inside Mount Weather, Aerrow had seen him with the others, but he wasn't sure, even if he could free them, he really wanted too.

"Please Aerrow" David begged.

"Why come to me?" Aerrow asked quietly, "most of your people want to kill me…".

David stared at Aerrow sadly. "Do not misjudge people's treatment of you for hatred, Aerrow" he said.

"Really?" Aerrow turned to look at the rest of the camp members, still running around like ants, packing supplies and fearing for their lives in general. Weak and pitiful as always. "'Cause it certainly seems that way".

David put his hand on Aerrow's shoulder "There are many false truths about you that people believe" he said seriously, "Yes, there are some that detest you for your actions, but look closely, and an even larger number respect you".

"Respect me? How?" Aerrow asked, unconvinced.

David looked him in the eye. "Because of what you can do, and because of what you did. You committed a terrible crime, yet you came back and faced it. That's why people voted to clear you. You have a very rare strength, Mr Eroxin. You can inspire people, make them believe in you, because you are one of a kind".

Aerrow stared at David, his eyes narrowing as he regained some of the old look of determination in his eyes.

"Plus" David added, nodding at his swords, "far as I know, no one else can wield a blade like that".

He gave Aerrow a slight grin and began walking back to his post. Aerrow stood still, eyes shut for several moments, David's words running over and over through his head '_you are one of a kind'_. He suddenly opened his eyes, remembering what he had to do. He tightened his grip on his swords and walked over to the corner of the fence, where he ducked through a hole he had cut in the wire and took off, headed for the drop ship.

**Hope you guys enjoyed a little bit more of Aerrow's back story. Thank you all for your feedback, it is much appreciated. Stay tuned for more.**


	22. Chapter 22

**This chapter was delayed slightly because it was another one I decided to re-write to try and get a better, more realistic interaction between the characters. Hope it turned out well.**

Night had fallen by the time Aerrow reached the drop ship. He moved quickly but it was still quite the trek. He found himself enjoying being on his own (except for Cleo, obviously). He liked moving through the trees like this, where he only had to concentrate on his next step. Doing all these things that he had done when he first arrived on the ground gave him a sense of familiarity, which gave him a strange sense of comfort.

His breath hitched in his throat when he arrived at the site of the drop ship, as memories – bad memories- flashed through his head. He forced the thoughts away when he remembered he had a job to do.

He walked through the door to the drop ship with a slight sense of unease. The last time he had been inside the landing craft had been the day after the battle with the grounders. He recalled the overwhelming grief he felt when he saw the others weren't there, and he felt his fist begin to tighten. Again, he re-focussed on the task at hand. Clarke and Bellamy weren't on the lower level, so they must have been on the top floor.

He climbed the ladder and opened the hatch "We have to go, the camp's leaving" he said quickly as he climbed up onto the upper level

He didn't have time to properly register everything in front of him, but he saw Clarke, Octavia, Bellamy and someone else all gathered around someone lying on the ground. A closer look identified the motionless body to be Lincoln. Aerrow briefly recalled how he had had to face Lincoln in that god-forsaken room in Mount Weather, and how he had made the decision not to kill him. Somehow Bellamy and Octavia must have found him and brought him here, where they were obviously trying to bring him back.

At the sight of Aerrow, the other person lifted his head "YOU!" he shouted in utter rage. Aerrow suddenly recognised him as a grounder, the same grounder from the village he had massacred. So much for forgetting about what he had done then…

The grounder immediately got to his feet, shouted something in his native tongue and before Aerrow could react, he had him pinned against the wall, his thick hands wrapped around the teenager's throat.

Aerrow grappled against the man's grip. He was strong for his size, but the grounder was far more thickly built and had far more power. Having dropped his swords, Aerrow could only try to pry the enraged man's hands off his neck.

"You slaughtered my people!" the grounder hissed at him in rage. "Elders! Children! Innocents!"

Aerrow returned the man's glare, but already he could feel his strength fading. He prayed one of the others was doing something. He glanced over at them. Bellamy had a gun, but Octavia was stopping him from shooting, saying that the grounder was Lincoln's friend.

"BLOOD MUST HAVE BLOOD!" the grounder yelled

Suddenly, Aerrow felt something crawl up his leg, before his saw a familiar face at his shoulder: Cleo

The crack of the Monitor Lizards tail hitting the grounder's head echoed throughout the drop ship. Aerrow felt the vice like grip around his throat vanish as the grounder slumped to the floor. A blow like that would have been enough to split some people's skulls open, but the grounder was tough and thick boned, and as such was only felled by the strike, rather than killed.

Aerrow closed his eyes and leant back against the wall, trying to control himself, but it was no use. He glanced at Clarke, who had a look of sorrow on her face, while Bellamy and Octavia looked plain confused. His emotions overflowed and before anyone else could do anything, he dropped back down the ladder and slammed the hatch shut behind him.

He remained on the bottom floor of the drop ship, not wanting to stay up with the others, but unable to leave either. He just stared at the wall in utter, utter despair.

A short time later, he heard someone climbing down the ladder.

Assuming it to be Clarke, he turned around in despair.

That emotion was quickly joined by shock when he discovered not Clarke, but Octavia standing at the bottom of the ladder.

She had a look of both shock and horror on her face. Of course she would have. She had no idea of his second massacre, and he was fairly sure she cared more about the grounders than she did about the people that forced her mother to lock her up under a floor for the first sixteen years of her life.

Aerrow didn't make eye contact with her. He was unable to. Judging by the look on her face, he was sure he had managed to lose the one person that had stood by his side the entire time. Until now.

For a long time, neither of them said anything. Eventually, Octavia broke the silence

"Why'd you do it?" she asked quietly. Aerrow could tell she was holding back her anger.

"They killed Sara." Aerrow replied simply. "I felt they needed to suffer a loss as bad as I did."

"18 deaths is not payback for one!" Octavia said, with venom.

"It was for me!" Aerrow growled, suddenly lifting his head to look directly at her.

Octavia shook her head in disgust. "I don't know how you could have done this. How could you turn into this… this monster!"

Aerrow glared at her as he felt the anger building up in his chest "Love is an awfully powerful, and a terribly destructive emotion" he said angrily "Tell me, Octavia, suppose someone killed Lincoln, what would you do?"

Octavia was silent. He knew what she was thinking. He saw her eyes darken as she said quietly "I would kill them back"

Aerrow nodded. Then he sniffed. "well you could have killed me." He said quietly.

Octavia tiled her head sideways in confusion. "I don't understand…"

Aerrow looked her dead in the eye "I've never told anyone what happened to me after I escaped this camp." He began. "that's because I never wanted anyone to know, because if they did…" he was forced to trail off and clench his fist as his emotion rose once more

"why? What happened?" Octavia asked. The anger had left her voice. For now at least. "Where did you go?"

Aerrow glanced at her. "Mount Weather"

Octavia's eyes widened.

"After I met up with Clarke, the Mountain Men captured me" he recalled "they brought me into that damn Mountain. _I saw our friends. _But I couldn't do anything."

Octavia remained silent.

"They incorporated me into this training program, project Ares, it was called. Some sort of advanced warrior project." Aerrow continued. He did not mention anything to do with Alexis "One of the tests they made me take part in was fighting Reapers. Lincoln was one of them"

Octavia took a shaky breath in, as horror returned to her eyes, at what must have happened to both her friend, and the man she loved. "what happened?" she asked shakily.

"I was supposed to kill him." Aerrow said sadly "I made a different choice"

He stared at Octavia, waiting for her to say something. He doubted she would forgive him, but at least she knew what had happened to Lincoln, and why she had found him alive at all.

"I know you must think of me as a monster." he told her sadly "and you have every right to. The things I've done… they're unforgivable." He paused, "I just want you to know that after everything I've done I… I regret them. And I'm sorry."

Octavia stood still for a very long time. Aerrow was sure she was trying to process everything he had just said. She seemed to swallow slightly, before speaking:

"You're right" she said eventually, "Not everything is forgivable. But maybe you are still redeemable. None of us are who we were when we first arrived. For better or worse, we are who we are now. We adapt to survive, and we can't do anything about that."

Aerrow chuckled slightly.

"What?" Octavia asked, taken completely by surprise.

"I hate when people tell me 'I survived'." Aerrow said.

"why?"

He smiled at her sadly "Because not all of me did"

Octavia had no response to that. She just stared at him sadly. Aerrow didn't care. He was just happy she wasn't angry with him anymore. Eventually, she climbed back up the ladder, leaving Aerrow alone once more on the lower level.

Not long afterwards, Clarke came down the ladder.

"Lincoln's stable, for now." He heard her say, "We should go."

Aerrow made no movement, he just kept his back to her, unable to face her. He felt her move towards him. He averted his gaze as she crouched down in front of him.

"Even if you can save Lincoln, he won't be the same." he said in a low voice. "The things he's done… they'll stay with him…"

Clarke looked down at her feet and blinked furiously, trying to force her emotions down. "We don't know that." she told him.

"yes we do." Aerrow whispered. A tear rolled down his cheek as he said it.

Clarke stared at him. She saw how scared he was of himself, of who he was becoming. "Lincoln's saveable," she told him, "and so are you."

Aerrow pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to deny his own emotions

"Now come on." Clarke said. "We have to hurry."

She began walking towards the door to the drop ship. Aerrow didn't walk after her. She stopped and waited at the door for him. Eventually, he brought is emotions under some sort of control and followed her.

…

They made good time back to the camp.

Upon walking through the gate, Clarke immediately called for her mother, who came running over. Thelonius followed soon after

"where have you been? We're leaving." Abby said harshly.

"I know how to stop the attack." Clarke replied quickly.

"What are you talking about?" Thelonius asked her.

"We haven't been able to negotiate with the grounders because we haven't had anything to offer them."

"We have him." Thelonius said uncaringly, gesturing to Aerrow like he was an animal up for auction. "The grounders are warriors. I'm sure they'd appreciate someone of Switchblades talent."

Aerrow clenched his jaw and glared at Jaha. It took all his self-control not to gut the bastard where he stood.

"Not happening." Clarke and Abby said together. Clarke gave Aerrow a re-assuring glance, and he calmed down slightly.

"The biggest threat they face is from the Reapers." Clarke said, turning back to her mother. "I think we may be able to eliminate that threat once and for all."

Abby stared at her daughter intensely, calculating and weighing up her options. "How?" she asked eventually

"Abby." Thelonius spoke up, "You can't seriously-" He cut himself off, instead staring at something in the distance.

Aerrow and the others followed his stare and saw a bright yellow light emerge appear in the distance. Aerrow stared at it curiously, wondering what it could be, when suddenly another light appeared, followed by another, and another, and another, until eventually hundreds of yellow lights were on the horizon.

Everyone in the camp froze. They knew what that meant. The lights were flaming torches. The grounders had arrived

"They're here…" Aerrow breathed

He stared at the lights. The entire grounder army must have turned up. He guessed around a hundred or so had attacked the drop ship, this was many times more than that.

He, Clarke and the others quickly retreated into the station, where Thelonius and Abby argued over what they should do.

The argument was loud and intense, with neither leader wanting to back down. Eventually, this escalated to the point where Abby had Thelonius arrested and put in the stockade. The debate over, it was decided that Clarke would go and talk to the grounder's commander, while Aerrow took Abby to Lincoln, where hopefully she would be able to turn him back into a man. Aerrow and Clarke wished each other luck before going their separate ways, knowing that if either of them failed, they would all be killed.

…

Aerrow and Abby trudged silently through the woods. Neither of them had said a word since they left the camp. The situation was awkward to say the least.

Eventually, Aerrow broke the silence "why did you clear me of what I did?" he asked her quietly, "I was guilty. You should have thrown me out, or just straight up shot me."

"Well the last time we tried to kill you it didn't turn out so well." Abby replied in a mix of seriousness and sarcasm

Aerrow looked down at the ground briefly as he remembered that day. He remembered the rage that exploded out from him when he saw Dylan, he felt the electricity course through him, scorching his skin as he was tortured, and he saw the blood covering his clothes from the guards he had massacred. "I'm serious, Abby." he said slowly. "You know I should have been punished, yet you let me off the hook. Why?"

Abby was silent for a few moments "Because of Clarke." she said, almost to herself

"Clarke?"

"I don't know what happened when you two were on the ground," Abby told him, "but she cares about you. I realised how much losing you would devastate her, and I couldn't put her through that."

Aerrow said nothing as they continued their trek. He had no idea what to say. He spent too much time wondering how Clarke truly felt about him. At least Abby had given him some kind of closure. Clarke may not have loved him as she used to, but it was infinitely re-assuring knowing that she still cared about him.

"Do you feel the same way about her?" Abby asked suddenly.

Aerrow glanced at her. As if things couldn't get any more awkward

"I…" he started, before trailing off. "Why… are you asking me this?"

Abby stopped and turned to face him. "Just to be clear, Aerrow, I didn't clear you because I care about you. I voted to clear you because I care about Clarke"

"I understand-" Aerrow began.

"No I don't think you do." Abby cut him off sharply, "Clarke's defiance and disregard for her own safety is strong, and I think a large part of that is because of your influence, and I do not want my daughter getting killed because of a dangerous attribute she picked up from a murderer"

Aerrow was silent. More than that, he was positively stunned by Abby's harshness

"Stay away from Clarke." Abby said, dead serious, "Or make my words, Eroxin, you will regret it, understood."

Aerrow could only nod

"Good." Abby said, deadpan, "now lets get moving."

The mood between them noticeably tenser, Aerrow led Abby onwards, towards the drop ship. As he walked, he couldn't take his mind off what she had said. It almost made no sense. He understood Abby's need to protect her daughter, but what she needed to realise was that he hadn't moulded Clarke into who she was, the ground had. The more he thought, the more he realised that Abby definitely did not care about him. She had somehow discovered that he had not killed Arianna, his parents and the guards on the Ark, yet she did not say anything, instead she let him get sent to the sky box. She had let him go from his cell on the ground, yet only to utilise him to find Clarke. And now, she had only cleared him because Clarke cared about him, and he had a strong feeling that she was keeping him close because she needed him to fight the grounders if it came to that. Still, he somehow got the sense that there was even more to Abby's reason for clearing him than she was letting on.

…

Dawn had broken by the time the two of them made it to the drop ship.

"Thank god!" Octavia said as Aerrow climbed onto the upper level. Abby followed him up and immediately went to work on Lincoln. The grounder, Nyko, was still there. He glared at Aerrow, who just stood awkwardly off to the side.

"Where's Clarke?" Octavia asked

"Trying to stop a war." Aerrow replied

Abby meanwhile was still examining Lincoln. She opened his eyelid to find his eye bloodshot and still.

"Pupils are un-responsive." she told the others, "tie off his arm."

While Octavia tied Lincoln's arm to the ground, Aerrow stared out of the hole in the drop ship that had been blasted open by Murphy many days previously. He was searching the woods, waiting for Clarke to appear.

He turned back around suddenly as Lincoln started seizing violently. He saw an empty syringe in Abby's hand. Whatever she had injected him with, it was not working well.

"Hold him down!" Abby told the others as Lincoln's shaking intensified. He groaned loudly as his body struggled to withdraw from the drug that had turned him into a Reaper. Suddenly, the shaking stopped and his entire body went completely still.

"Whats happening? Why isn't it working?" Octavia asked, panicked.

"His heart's stopped." Abby said as she began compressing his chest, trying to re-start his heart.

Aerrow spied movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced out of the open hole in the drop ship to see not just Clarke, but multiple grounders heading towards the ship. The grounders all seemed to be surrounding one of their kind, a woman, no older that Clarke it appeared. There was no way… surely she couldn't be their commander?

"They're here!" he told the others as Abby continued to perform CPR on Lincoln

"Come on…" she whispered, but Lincoln remained motionless. Realising there was nothing more she would be able to do, Abby stopped the compressions.

"You're stopping. What's wrong?" Octavia asked, her voice breaking as she said it

"I'm sorry." Abby said quietly, "He's gone."

The entire room was silent. They all knew what that meant. They had failed to bring Lincoln back, meaning Clarke's plea to the Commander would be taken as a lie. All hell was about to break loose.

Clarke opened the hatch and climbed onto the level. She took in the sight in front of her. Octavia knelt over Lincoln, sobbing, while everyone else was silent, a look of abstract dread on their faces. In that instant, Clarke realised too.

The Commander joined them on the upper level. Several of her warriors also followed her up. She stared at Lincoln's dead body, then at Clarke. Burning anger began to develop in her eyes. Clarke said nothing. She knew there was nothing she could say.

Clarke glanced at Aerrow, then at Bellamy. They realised what she was trying to tell them. Aerrow flexed his fingers, while Bellamy slowly reached for the assault rifle at his feet.

The Commander turned to one of her soldiers, the dark skinned woman named Indra, and nodded.

"Kill them all!" Indra hissed, drawing her sword.

In an instant, the grounder all raised their weapons, while Bellamy picked up his gun and Abby and shock baton. Aerrow drew his two swords and held them out to either side of him, creating a barrier between his people and the grounders. Cleo climbed onto his shoulder and hissed loudly.

The two groups were locked in a stalemate. Neither wanted to attack first, knowing that the first to attack would also be the first to die, and that the moment a drop of blood was spilt, an all-out war would begin: the grounders against the sky people.

"Please!" Clarke said to the Commander, "You don't have to do this!"

"You lied!" the Commander growled. "and you're out of time."

Aerrow grimaced. He knew there was no stopping what was to come. He tightened his grip on his swords and braced himself.

Suddenly though, Abby turned and jabbed the end of the shock baton into Lincoln's chest. His bolted jolted from the electricity, but his breathing did not re-start. Clarke realised what she was doing: she was trying to re-start Lincoln's heart by using the baton as a defibrillator

"Hit him again!" She told her mother.

Abby did so and this time, Lincoln rasped and started breathing again. Fast, shallow breaths, but breaths at least. His eyes opened to reveal they were no longer bloodshot. The drug had drained from his system.

"Lincoln?" Octavia whispered, leaning over him so she could stare into his eyes

"Octavia..." Lincoln rasped weakly.

Clarke and the Commander locked eyes. The anger faded from the grounder's face and she holstered her sword.

Aerrow breathed a sigh of relief. They had done it.

…

Clarke stood in a tent with the Commander, who had revealed her name to be Lexa.

"Lincoln's recovery was… impressive." Lexa said, "No one's ever survived such a fate before."

"It's not complicated really," Clarke told her, "we just need to keep them alive long enough for the drug to leave their system. I know we can do the same for others."

Lexa nodded slowly, deep in thought. "You may have your truce." she said eventually

Relief washed over Clarke. Finally, she could forget about the threat of war and focus on getting her friends out of Mount Weather. "Thank you." she said, deep in gratitude

"I just need one thing in return." Lexa said, voice even and emotionless, something Clarke did not pick up on.

"Name it." she said

The Commander narrowed her eyes and stared directly at Clarke "Deliver me the one you call Aerrow." she said, "Our truce begins with his death."

**Now things start getting spicy. Hope you enjoyed that chapter. I enjoyed writing it, I do like those Aerrow/Octavia interactions, and their friendship does become rather important in future chapters. That is all for now though guys, stay tuned for more.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Now's where things get interesting! Aerrow had to face punishment for what he has done, eventually…**

**These chapters were great fun for me to write, because I was able to follow Finn's storyline, but put my own little twists on it. There are some flashbacks to Aerrow's – and Clarkes – childhood, growing up on the Ark, and those were really fun to write. Anyways, enjoy!**

_FLASHBACK_

_Clarke is walking along the halls of the Ark. More sort of skipping actually. She's happy, happy in the way only an eight year old can be. She is looking forward to her weekly visit to the Jaha quarters, where along with her friend Wells and their two fathers, she can watch another old replay of some intriguing sport that people played on Earth, before the bombs dropped, and everyone had to move to space._

_Normally, her father would be accompanying her, but she is impatient. She knows these halls, and she is a big girl now anyway. Her blonde hair is tied in two ponytails, which reach down to her shoulders. In her hand she carries a thick book, it's about a guy named Harry Potter or something._

_In order to get to the Jaha residence, which is located near the centre of the Ark, she has to pass through the guard training area. She glances at the cadets as she walks past. She could never understand why they had to stand still for so long like that. Without much of a second thought, she keeps walking, but then out of the corner of her eye she spots something._

_In another room, completely separate from the others, there is a young boy, far younger than any of the other cadets. He seems to be fighting a dummy of some sort, and he is being watched by a man in a white coat and a clip board. _

_Clarke presses her face against the glass. She is utterly captivated by his movements, the blur of his limbs as he kicks and punches the dummy. She has no idea why he has been separated from the others. She guesses it's because he is younger. Suddenly, he stops and turns around. Suddenly, she finds him staring directly at her. She freezes. His hair is cut short, really short, no more than a centimetre. His face is hard and angular, quite the contrast to her soft, round face. It is his eyes though that cause her breath to catch in the back of her throat. They are the most mesmerising shade of purple, they swim with perception, and seem to stare right through her, as if he can read her thoughts. _

_Un-nerved, Clarke quickly turns away from the glass and begins walking off, her cheerful mood somewhat altered. She wonders who that boy is. She hopes, one day, that she finds out._

PRESENT

Clarke walked back to camp Jaha in a daze. Her head swam as what Lexa said repeated over and over again inside her mind

"_Deliver me the one you call Aerrow. Our truce begins with his death."_

It was almost unthinkable, the idea that she had to hand over one of her own people, sentencing him to death, in order to attain peace. Thinking back, she was furious with herself. She should have seen this coming. She should have known that the grounders would not have forgotten about Aerrow's massacre on their village. She should have known they would have demanded he be punished. Now she was faced with an impossible choice: sacrifice Aerrow, the only person she had ever truly loved, or sacrifice peace with the grounders instead.

The night time fog cast a long shadow and lingered over her, like an embodiment of the burden that now rested squarely on her shoulders as she walked up to the gate.

She grimaced when she saw Aerrow standing there, staring uneasily at the grounders that accompanied her. He had no idea… none at all of what he was faced with. It saddened her deeply that this was the turn his life had taken, and how the choices made by the person he had been turned into now affected the lives of everyone in the camp.

A member of the guard opened the gate and she walked back inside the walls of the camp, leaving the horse-mounted grounders outside.

"What happened?" Aerrow asked as she approached him, keeping his eyes locked squarely on the grounders. Something about the situation just didn't seem right to him. He sensed the tension in Clarke's stance.

"You can't be out here." she whispered, grabbing his arm and leading him toward the station.

"Clarke what's going on?" he asked. Something about the situation just didn't seem right to him. He sensed the tension in Clarke's stance and the urgency in her grip around his arm.

Abby approached them and she and Clarke embraced tightly

"What did she say?" Abby asked as they separated, "is there a chance for a truce?"

Clarke glanced around. Everyone had gathered around them, desperate to know if they were safe or not.

Clarke swallowed "yes."

"What's wrong?" Aerrow asked again, more sternly this time.

Clarke looked down at the ground, trying to keep herself under control. She turned and looked at him, into the eyes of the person who could very well be dead by the end of the day. "They want you." she told him. She barely managed to get the words out. She saw his eyes widen slightly, but otherwise he made no movement.

Clarke turned back to her mother. "If we want peace, we have to give them Aerrow."

Everyone was silent. Clarke glanced at Aerrow. He was staring into space, his mind whirring with the implications. Even Cleo, who was perched on his neck, seemed to understand something, and the lizard coiled her tail protectively around him and nuzzled her head against his neck.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raven asked, shocked. She would be. She didn't know of Aerrow's massacre on the grounders, nor of Lexa's ultimatum. For all she knew, the grounders could be demanding for some kind of arranged marriage between he and the commander!

"That's their offer." Clarke said

"That's not an offer!" Raven replied, anger creeping into her voice

"It's punishment." a raspy voice interrupted: Aerrow's

Raven turned to face him. "What do you mean?" she asked quietly, confused

Aerrow stared at her with sad eyes for a few moments. He figured there was no point keeping secrets now. "This camp wasn't the only place I massacred…" he told her sadly. Her eyes widened slightly, and she took a shaky step backwards. She understood instantly. So did the rest of the camp, and angered murmurs began to rise.

"Blood must have blood." he finished, echoing what Nyko has said earlier

"That's insane…" Bellamy said

'_no it's not_' Aerrow thought sadly. He had been expecting something like this. And after everything he had done, maybe he deserved it.

"And if we refuse?" Abby asked Clarke.

She bowed her head. "they attack…"

At her words, the storm that had been brewing among the citizens suddenly erupted, with angry cries of "give him up!" being shouted out by numerous people.

The guards tried to calm the people down, but it was to no avail.

"Give him to the grounders!" a man growled, advancing towards Aerrow. He recognised him as the same man who had attacked him in the medical tent.

"Back off!" Raven shouted, shoving the man away. Clarke and Bellamy quickly stepped in and separated the two. Raven glared at the man. She might have been in shock at the revelation of Aerrow's actions, she was not surprised. She knew how Sara's death had hurt him. She understood his pain. Had she been able to walk when she found out about what had happened to Finn she more than likely would have done the same thing.

Aerrow stared around at the restless camp members. He felt his hands begin to tighten into fists and he heard Cleo hiss menacingly, her tail poised and ready. He realised that if things didn't calm down, he could very well be killed by the sky people instead of the grounders. He figured the grounders wouldn't like that very much, and would probably attack anyway if that were to happen.

"I'm not dying for him!" another enraged citizen shouted, "Switchblade killed 18 of our people, 6 more up on the Ark. We should have floated him a long time ago. Throw him out!"

He made to shove Aerrow backwards, but was instead silenced by a knockout tail whip from Cleo, which set the whole camp off. Everything erupted into chaos. Strangely, Aerrow was remarkably calm. He almost expected to have been tipped over the edge by now, but instead of feeling that burning anger, all he felt was a deep sadness and regret at what his actions had caused.

_FLASHBACK_

_Aerrow is 15 years old. He sits idly at the back of his Earth Skills class talking to Dylan, only half paying attention_ _(he knows he'll ace the test anyway, a quick read through the text-book and he'll be able to memorise everything, he's always been able to for some reason). Some kid named Finn is answering all the questions anyway, showing off to his not-girlfriend Raven. Know-it-all._

_Suddenly, the door to the classroom opens and an unfamiliar girl walks in. She is small and dainty, and part of her face is obscured by her long, brunette hair. There is something captivating about her though, and Aerrow finds himself leaning forwards in his chair a little as he stares at her._

_Fortunately for him, the only available desk in the classroom is the one next to his. She sits down quietly and takes out her books._

_After a bit of time, he leans across to her. "Hi, I'm Aerrow." he whispers_

_She turns and looks at him, almost startled that he is talking to her. After a while, she responds, "Arianna." she says shyly._

"_Nice to meet you." Aerrow says. He smiles genuinely. "How come I haven't met you before?" he asks_

"_I was in a different set of classes," she replies, still not making direct eye contact with him, "but for some reason I was transferred to these new ones…"_

_She shows him her timetable. Curiously, her new classes are all the same ones he is in. He takes note of her shyness. He'll probably cop so much crap from Dylan and his other friends later, but he doesn't care. There's something… different… about this girl, something he's never quite felt before._

"_What's wrong?" he asks, noticing the sadness in her features_

"_Oh nothing…" she responds quietly, "It's just… I don't have many friends, and all of them were in my old classes. Now I'm on my own…"_

_The corner of Aerrow's mouth curls upwards into a friendly grin. "I can be your friend… If you want." he tells her._

_She looks at him. For the first time he can see both of her hazel eyes. And then she smiles. It is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. In that instant, he lets himself go, his heart goes out to her._

_Fast forward a month and Aerrow and Arianna have become almost inseparable. They do everything together, and are constantly hanging out at each other's quarters. Aerrow finds himself changing. He is no longer sitting in the back row, ignoring classes. Now he is up at the front, next to Arianna, _actually answering questions _(much to the annoyance of the Earth Skills hotshot, Finn)._

_One night, the whole Ark stops whatever they are doing, for tonight there is a total solar eclipse, where the moon passes directly in front of the sun, blotting out its light. It's a rare event, it has only happened 6 times since the Ark's establishment._

_Instead of joining the rest of his friends at a youth party in celebration of the event, Aerrow takes Arianna up to a glass room, designed to overlook the training room for the guards, but which also looks out into space. As the most promising up-and-coming cadet, Aerrow has been able to convince his superior, David Miller, to let him watch the eclipse from here._

_Aerrow and Arianna stand side by side as they watch the moon slowly pass into front of the sun, and everything gradually darkens until all that is visible is the corona of the sun, poking out around the sides of the moon._

"_Beautiful, isn't it?" Arianna says._

_Aerrow turns to look at her. Her eyes sparkle in the dappled light._

"_Sure it is." he replies, then looks directly at her, "but not quite as beautiful as something else…"_

_She breaks out in laughter. _God he loves her laugh_. He loves everything about her. he slides his hand across the bannister until it comes to a rest on top of hers_

"_I have something I want to tell you." he says._

"_and what would that be?"_

"_That I've never met someone like you." he says, deadly serious, "and if I'm going to be with anyone for the rest of my life, I want that person to be you." he pauses. "I love you, Arianna."_

_She looks down briefly, then back up, directly in his eyes. She smiles that beautiful smile once more. Aerrow notices they are moving closer and closer together. He puts his finger under her chin, angles her head up and gently brings their lips together. _

PRESENT

Aerrow sat up against the side of the station, absent-mindedly stroking Cleo's back, who was sprawled across his legs. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, almost trying to wish the situation away.

He looked up as he heard someone approaching. It was Murphy. He clenched his jaw at the sight of the murderer, but Bellamy had said that he had learnt his lesson, for good this time, and had actually been quite helpful. He had even helped save someone's life.

"Hey man." Murphy said casually, sitting down beside Aerrow, "Willis actually gave me a gun, guess we really are screwed."

Aerrow had no reaction to Murphy's humour. He continued staring blankly ahead of him.

"Look, we kicked their asses last time, we'll do it again." Murphy said, giving his version of reassurance

"I kicked their asses last time." Aerrow growled, "I don't want to do it again."

It was only partly true. He did want to kick some grounder ass again. What he couldn't bear was what it had cost him. He had his current predicament to remind him of that.

Before Murphy could reply, Bellamy and Clarke walked over

"We're reinforcing all our defences, doubles on the perimeter." Bellamy said. He paused. "You should head inside." he told Aerrow, who rose to his feet instantly, "B corridor will be easier to defend, if it comes to that."

"I'm not going to hide like a coward!" Aerrow said defiantly. He meant it, too. If he had to face death, he was not going to hide from it. It was going to face it head on, like he always did in a battle.

"Right now we have to keep you safe." Clarke said

"Clarke… you can't keep me safe…" Aerrow said sadly

"Yes we can!" Clarke said, grabbing his arm. He shook her off. She stepped back, surprised. He turned to look at her. "I'm sorry…" he whispered, his voice cracking slightly, "I just… want- need… to be alone…"

"But Aerrow, you're not alone." Clarke told him, "let us help you!"

Aerrow looked at her and Bellamy sadly. "But you can't…" he sniffed.

Before either of them could do anything, he picked Cleo up by the base of her tail, put her on his shoulder and walked off, heading for the discarded sheets of metal he had put together to make an improvised shelter. He entered it, sat down and put his head in his hands as he desperately tried to figure out what he even wanted to do from there.

…

Dawn broke, and Clarke finally decided to go and speak to Aerrow.

She walked in to his shelter to find him with his swords stowed in their holsters, stuffing supplies into a rucksack. "what are you doing?" she asked him straight away

He looked up at her. he was silent for a moment, but then he spoke. "Leaving." he said simply.

"Where will you go?" she responded, crouching down in front of him, "there's nowhere to go!"

Aerrow looked at her long and hard "I'm putting everyone in this camp at risk!" he said, "I'm putting _you _at risk!"

"there are grounders everywhere…" Clarke told him, "they'll kill you!"

"They can try."

"I'm serious Aerrow-"

"You think I don't know that?" he hissed, standing up, "maybe that's what I deserve, for what I've done…"

Clarke stood in front of him, she put her hands on his shoulders

"You wanted to find our people." she began.

"I wanted to find you!" he interrupted, "I killed the guards because I wanted to find you, I killed the grounders as payback for Sara. That's how this works, a never ending circle of revenge. There's only one way to end it…"

"with you dying?"

"If it comes to that, yes." his voice was sad, but also tinged with acceptance, of his fate.

"Aerrow you can't do that to us!" Clarke told him "You can't do that to me!"

He remained unmoved "Clarke, listen to me." he said in a low voice. He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "I still love you, you know that, I know that. Now everything that's happened, everything I've done, all that matters is that you're ok. I just need you to know that."

Clarke said nothing. She furiously blinked back tears. She wanted to admit to him, admit to herself that she still had feelings for him too, but she couldn't. She had no idea how he could handle the situation the way he was. He was so calm, so… ready to die. Before that fateful battle at the drop ship, he never would have accepted death like this. He would have stood up, punched it in the face, and told it to piss off. But he wasn't that person anymore. This was who he had become

"Don't go…" she whispered, forcing her emotions down, "please."

Aerrow looked down. He seemed to look inside himself, trying to decide what it was his heart was telling him to do, and for a single, tiny instant, she saw his eyes waver. She knew he was still there, still with her.

Suddenly, a loud chanting sound echoed around the camp.

Aerrow followed Clarke out to find the entire grounder army station a few hundred metres back from the fence. Around Aerrow's neck, Cleo hissed.

"This is it!" Clarke told him, urgency in her voice, "we have to get you inside now!"

She took his hand and led him toward the station. He made no move to resist her, though he was not going willingly. He simply let himself be pulled along, his body working on auto pilot.

The doors to the station closed with a hiss behind them. This was it, the final stand.

**As always, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Hopefully I did the characters justice, and that I captured the feeling of childhood in the flashbacks. Stay tuned for more coming soon!**


	24. Chapter 24

**My sincerest apologies for the delay in uploading this chapter. The hard drive for my laptop corrupted so I lost all my work, which was irritating to say the least. Never mind. I'll just re-write the chapters I lost. Starting with this one. Enjoy.**

"Aerrow!" Bellamy's voice echoed down the corridor. Aerrow turned his head as Bellamy approached. "They're turning on you, we need to get out of here now!" Bellamy told him urgently. "Grab your gear, meet at Raven's gate in 5 minutes."

Aerrow hesitated for a moment. He had accepted quite a while ago that this would be the case. He nodded slightly. "Ok. But no one's coming with me. I've caused enough chaos already."

Bellamy looked him dead in the eye. "Not an option." He stated firmly.

"Besides, where would we go?" Clarke asked, walking alongside them.

"The drop ship." Bellamy answered, "We can defend him from there."

"No offense, Bellamy," Aerrow interjected, "But I can take care of myself."

"Against an army?" Bellamy asked sharply. He paused. "Listen Aerrow, regardless of what you have done, we are still your friends, and we are going to do everything we can to help you. End of discussion."

Aerrow was slightly taken aback by the strength behind Bellamy's words. He realised that he wasn't going to be able to fight this, and he relented. The three began moving toward the exit of the station, but soon found their path blocked by a group of angry citizens. One held a piece of pipe in his hands and advanced menacingly towards them.

"There he is!" the man growled at Aerrow, "You are going to get us killed!"

The man raised his weapon. Neither Aerrow nor his friends had any time to do anything, except for one: Cleo.

Anticipating the attack, the Lace Monitor sprang into action. She leapt from Aerrow's shoulder onto the man's face, digging her sharp claws into his skin. At the unfamiliar, alien feel of the lizard's scales, the man began screaming as he frantically ran around the corridor, desperately trying to pull the lizard off his face, but Cleo clung on tight. She let go just in time for the man to ram his head into the side of the corridor. As he slumped to the ground, unconscious, Cleo crawled innocently back up onto Aerrow's shoulder.

Aerrow glared at the remaining members of the 'gang'. "Anyone else?" he growled. The gang quickly dissipated, and Aerrow, Clarke and Bellamy resumed their walk towards the exit.

As they exited the station, a sudden realisation hit Clarke. "That forest is crawling with grounders." She told the other two, "How are we going to make it through un-noticed?"

Aerrow looked back at her over his shoulder. "Leave that to me." he winked at her.

…

A short time later, two figures crawled through an opening in the perimeter fence – dubbed 'Raven's gate'.

Being extremely careful to avoid detection by the grounders that were no doubt patrolling the forest, the two moved slowly and carefully through the long grass surrounding the camp.

Only one they had reached the relative cover of the trees did they reveal themselves: Aerrow and Cleo.

Aerrow looked back at the camp, before carefully scanning his surroundings, anxious to see if he had been detected or not. His fate depended on it. When no grounders immediately made themselves known, he released the breath he had been holding and began to walk further into the trees, but at the back of his mind, he knew they were out there… somewhere… hunting him…

Indeed, he hadn't walked more than a few hundred metres when he heard a faint whistling sound cut through the air, moments before he felt something whiz past his shoulder and imbed itself in the tree in front of him.

Aerrow froze.

Stuck in the back of the tree was the unmistakeable curved blade used by the grounder scouts. They had found him.

Surreptitiously, Aerrow scoured the trees, for he knew the scouts would be up there, using the branches for cover. At first, he saw nothing, but then, looking closer, he spotted it: the shady outline of a figure crouched in a tall tree a hundred metres or so behind him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw two more scouts creeping along the ground to his sides. They were trying to flank him.

Acting like he didn't know they were there, Aerrow slowly grabbed Cleo's tail, lifted the lizard off his shoulder and placed her on the ground. "Stay close buddy." he whispered, before taking a deep breath.

And then he took off.

Breathing hard with his arms and legs moving in perfect, rapid unison, Aerrow raced through the trees at an incredible speed. Trees and boulders whipped past him as he dodged, ducked and rolled his way through the forest.

The three scouts instantly gave chase, and were soon joined by others. One… two… three scouts joined in on the chase, and Aerrow suddenly found himself getting tailed by six highly skilled, deadly grounder warriors.

Aerrow though was just as skilled. Every fibre of his body had been fine tuned to perform at maximum capacity for as long as humanly possible. In his weeks spent on the ground, Aerrow had built up his ability to mimic the grounder's smooth, sleek movements, and as such he was able to stay out of range of their spears and blades. Cleo ran alongside him, the big lizard easily able to keep up with his pace.

Curiously, he didn't make any attempt to deviate from his course, or evade the grounders by using the trees. No, he kept running directly ahead, aiming for a specific point in the forest: a large, dead tree hanging suspended by a network of entangled vines.

As he approached it, Aerrow actually slowed his pace, allowing the scouts to get within 20 metres of him. When he was about to pass under the tree, Aerrow flung his last remaining shuriken at it. The lightweight blade carved through the vines like they were butter, and the tree, released from its grip, dropped to the ground, _crushing _two of the pursuing scouts.

While the remaining scouts lost time moving around the large obstacle in their path, Aerrow made a beeline for the river, where he emerged from the trees and began moving along the river bank, leaping from boulder to boulder. Instead of following him, the scouts opted to stay in the forest, where they could move faster. And, unlike their prey, they knew what was up ahead…

Aerrow glanced at the forest. Every now and then, he caught a glimpse of a scout racing along, paralleling him. He looked back in front of him, and instantly stopped in his tracks.

He was standing on the edge of a waterfall. It was easily fifty feet down. A big drop. Aerrow looked back over his shoulder to see the four scouts emerging from the forest. They were still a little way away from him and weren't moving overly quickly. They knew they had him trapped.

It was precisely then however, that Aerrow turned back around and, without hesitation, leapt from the top of the waterfall, to the complete shock of the scouts.

Caught in the grip of gravity once more, Aerrow found himself plummeting towards the water below. He flashed back to his freefall off the cliff on Mount Weather, but this time was different. This time, he had total control of his fall. He entered the water feet first, with his arms tucked by his sides, cushioning his fall.

By the time the scouts reached the water's edge, there was no sign of Aerrow. Frustrated they had lost their quarry, the scouts turned and headed back to the perimeter around the sky people's camp.

Once they were out of sight, a figure emerged from his hiding place _behind _the wall of water: Aerrow. He saw the scouts disappear back the way they came from, and he smiled. It had been his plan the whole time: to distract the scouts and in doing so, punch a hole through which Clarke and the others could get through. Cleo was waiting for him on the river bank. Aerrow hauled himself out of the water and resumed his journey towards the drop ship.

…

Aerrow was about a mile from the drop ship when he heard footsteps coming up behind him. His first thought was '_grounder_' but the footsteps were different. They were too loud, too irregular.

"Hey, your plan worked. We made it through." Clarke said as she came alongside him.

"What happened to splitting up?" Aerrow said, keeping his gaze fixed ahead.

"Not a chance." Clarke replied.

Aerrow paused, and looked at her long and hard. Somewhere deep inside him, it was a good feeling to know that she cared about him enough to want to stay by his side, to make sure he was ok. Though the darker, emotionless side of his brain wondered if she was just here because she was in need of his protection, or to stop him from doing anything stupid like handing himself over to the grounders.

"You do realise that this isn't going to change anything, right?" Aerrow said quietly, moving on. "You think the grounders are just going to leave once they realise I'm gone. They're going to keep hunting me."

"How do you know that?" Clarke asked suddenly, turning around to face him.

Aerrow looked at her sadly. "Because that's what I did to them."

Aerrow saw a look of pity wash over her face, and a deep sadness at the reminder of what he had done. Who he had become.

Suddenly, a grounder came leaping over a crest in front of them, wielding a club. Reflexively, Aerrow crouch-rolled to the side but in doing so he inadvertently exposed Clarke.

As he landed, the grounder slammed his club into the side of her face, knocking her out instantly. She dropped to the ground.

Aerrow stood up from his roll and drew his swords, ready to fight back and defend Clarke. But then, he saw in horror, it was too late. Clarke was already lying at the grounder's feet, bleeding profusely from a newly opened wound on the side of her head. She didn't appear to be moving at all.

Aerrow felt the familiar heavy red anger boil up inside him, threatening to burst out once more. And this time, he let it out. With a cry of rage, he charged forth to attack the bastard who felled Clarke.

The grounder may have been a good warrior, but he was no match for the younger, faster, and much, much angrier Aerrow. The teenager was all over him, pummelling him with savage blows.

With a single, full force swing of his coandite sword, Aerrow cleaved the man's club in half, before using his momentum to swing himself around and kick the grounder hard in the chest, sending him back against the tree. The grounder made to move forward, but stopped instantly when he found both of Aerrow's swords pressed against his neck.

Glaring at the man, Aerrow prepared himself to bring his swords back to deliver the final, killing blow, when he heard a long, low groan.

It had come from Clarke.

Aerrow watched her as she unconsciously rolled over. She was badly injured, but alive at least. Aerrow switched his gaze back to the grounder, and strangely he found the rage inside him beginning to die. It was instead replaced with a deep sadness at everything that had happened because of his massacre on the grounders village. All the innocent lives that had been taken, and the many more that would be taken. Aerrow realised that there was only one way this could end.

"I would very much like to kill you." he hissed at the grounder, "But I need to you tell your commander something for me first."

Keeping his blade to the man's throat, Aerrow whispered something into his ear, before standing back and lowering his swords, leaving the grounder free.

At first, the man did nothing, so Aerrow levelled his sword at the man's throat. "Go!" he growled. The grounder took off.

Aerrow exhaled slowly, waiting for the grounder to get out of sight before rushing over to Clarke. She was still alive, for now, but the grounder had opened up a nasty wound on her head. Those sorts of wounds didn't clot fast, and there was a real danger of Clarke bleeding out if he didn't get her to help soon, so he gathered her up in his arms and hurried for the drop ship

…

"Where are they?" Bellamy asked for the fifth time as he paced anxiously across the floor of the drop ship. "They should have been here-"

He cut himself off when Aerrow stormed through the entrance, carrying an unconscious Clarke in his arms. He saw that Bellamy, Raven and… Octavia had all made it to the drop ship.

Seeing Clarke hanging limply in his arms, Bellamy immediately rushed over. "what happened?" he asked quickly, seeing the wound on her head.

"Grounder." Aerrow growled. He said no more. He simply let Bellamy take Clarke form him, before walking over to the far corner of the room and hurling his swords down in both anger and fear. Seeing his distress, Octavia walked over to him. "Clarke's going to be ok." she told him, "It's just a knock to the head."

"So many people, dead, because of me!" Aerrow shouted at her, "And now nearly Clarke as well. Just give me to the grounders already!"

With that, he stormed out of the drop ship.

…

Aerrow sat on the ramp of the drop ship, holding his head in his hands in utter despair. He gazed miserably around the barren ash covered ground surrounding him. He didn't even know which skeleton was Sara's anymore. He just knew that all this death and destruction would not have happened if it weren't for him. It he hadn't been such a determined son of a bitch, he would have died on the Ark a long time ago. But no, he had to continue to struggle through life, causing pain to everyone around him. There was no return from the sins he had committed, and there was now only one release he could have from this tortured life.

He heard someone walk out of the drop ship, and sit down beside him. It was Octavia, just as she had so often done.

"I'm sorry" he said quietly, though not looking at her "when I refused to train you, I didn't mean to hurt you…"

Octavia had no immediate reaction

"Do you want to know why we won't give you to the grounders?" she asked

Aerrow shrugged, "enlighten me."

"Because for all you've done, in your heart, you're still a good person, Aerrow."

Aerrow couldn't help but chuckle sarcastically. "No I'm not…" he said distantly.

"Yes you are." Octavia said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "You just refuse to see it."

Aerrow said nothing.

"I can see it, my brother can see it, Clarke can see it. Even this little lady can see it." Octavia continued, gesturing to Cleo. "So why can't you?"

Aerrow glanced at her briefly before looking down. "Hard to see anything when the darkness is all that's left" he said sadly.

"I didn't tell you why I asked you to train me, did I?" Octavia asked suddenly.

"Well, yes you did. You said you wanted to become a warrior-" Aerrow answered, but even as he was saying it, he felt as if that wasn't entirely true.

He saw Octavia shake her head, hesitating before answering, "That's partly true but…" she took a breath in. "I also want to be like you, someone people look up to."

Aerrow scoffed. "People think of me as a monster…"

Octavia paused. "Well I don't" she said quietly.

Aerrow was taken by surprise by her tone. It sounded so soft, so reserved, so _personal_, almost like-

"I admire you" Octavia continued, locking eyes with him. She looked hesitant, nervous, almost vulnerable, as if she had been debating telling him this for a long time. "Everything you've been through, and you're still better than a lot of the people I've met."

"Tell that to the 36 innocents I murdered."

"You were turned into a weapon. Weapons are meant to kill." Aerrow narrowed his eyes, perplexed, but then Octavia finished her statement. "What about the 49 surviving kids you saved? What about Clarke? We'd all be dead if it weren't for you."

Aerrow still didn't believe her. He turned away, shaking his head. He froze when he felt Octavia wrap her arms around him and rest her head on his shoulder. "What are you doing?" he asked carefully.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Octavia replied casually, "I'm giving you a hug."

"why?"

Octavia paused, before leaning down and whispering cheerfully into his ear "Because it seems to me like to haven't had enough of these lately"

Aerrow heard Octavia's words and… he relaxed. He couldn't comprehend how she didn't hate him after learning what he had done to Lincoln's village, he was just thankful she still stood by him as a friend and a desperately needed companion.

"Thank you." Aerrow told her quietly, flashing a half-smile for the faintest hint of a second. He was still staring ahead, not making eye contact with her. Subconsciously, he clenched his fist beside him, trying to force down whatever he was currently feeling – even he did not know what. What he did know was that these emotions were directed at Octavia. They coursed through his veins, flooding his brain with all sorts of primal, instinctive feelings, feelings he was desperately trying to fight back against. But he could only put up so much of a fight.

'_Screw it' _he thought. Quickly and wordlessly, he turned his head to face Octavia and pressed their lips together.

Except she wasn't there anymore. She had already stood up and was in the process of walking back into the drop ship. Thankfully, her back had been turned to him so she had not seen what he had just done.

Aerrow felt his cheeks flush with guilt. He shook his head rapidly, forcing away what he had just felt. Now that the moment had been lost, he was furious at himself. While he might have been still and silent on the outside, inside he was screaming at himself for what he had done, and what he had felt. _No. Never again._

Octavia stopped at the entrance and turned to face him. "By the way, Clarke woke up." She said, "Told you she would be ok." Then she pushed through the curtain and vanished from his sight.

Aerrow lingered for a moment. Slowly, he turned his sight back ahead of him. He scanned the forest with piercing eyes.

Watching…

Waiting…

…

Clarke was in the process of propping herself back up on her elbows when Aerrow re-entered the ship. The others deliberately moved away, and started doing other things, leaving Aerrow and Clarke alone.

"How's your head?" Aerrow asked, crouching down beside her.

"Awesome." Clarke replied sarcastically.

"When you went down… I thought you were dead… because of me…" Aerrow whispered.

"I'm right here."

Aerrow stared at her. Her light blonde hair was now stained red with her blood, and he felt the guilt rising once more. "I've killed so many people…"

"Aerrow," Clarke said quietly, yet firmly, "The things we've done to survive… they don't define us."

Aerrow shook his head sadly. "You're wrong." he told her, "This is who I am now."

Clarke was about to say something, when Bellamy interrupted, shouting "Get out here, we've got company!"

Aerrow helped Clarke to her feet and the two of them raced out of the drop ship to join Bellamy and the other two.

"Get down!" Bellamy told them, "Grounders."

Aerrow scanned the surrounding forest. Every now and then, he caught a glimpse of the grounders' body armour. Looking through the scope of his rifle, Bellamy had a much better view. And what he saw was enough to scare even him. The surrounding forest was literally crawling with grounders.

They quickly retreated back into the drop ship to plan their next move.

"They're not moving any closer." Bellamy observed, peering out from the side of the forest.

"They're staying out of range." Aerrow said, "They'll attack at night, just like last time." he squeezed his eyes shut briefly as he remembered what transpired last time…

"Well if we hit them now, at least we'll take them by surprise." Bellamy commented.

This only set off an argument. Much like they did on most things, Bellamy and Clarke had very differing views on what they should do.

"That's enough!" Aerrow interjected. The other four all turned to look at him. "Arguing isn't going to solve anything. They've got us surrounded, and this time, we have no escape. The only thing we can do is stay here and defend this camp."

"They want me. I'll take them on." He finished.

"We have no idea how many there are-" Clarke began

"Exactly." Aerrow said, "Which is why you four will be my back up. I'll keep the fight focussed on me, you guys take down as many as you can, ok?" he paused. "That's the plan!"

And so they exited the drop ship and took up their designated positions: Aerrow standing near the gate, swords in hand, the others crouched behind various objects closer to the drop ship. Curiously, the grounders were nowhere to be seen.

Cleo meanwhile was tethered unhappily to a tree stump beside Clarke. Aerrow's reasoning for this was that he did not want to see his reptilian friend get injured or worse. Strange, considering they had fought together before. The monitor lizard did not like this arrangement at all, and she hissed and strained against the leash, trying to get back to Aerrow's side.

Suddenly, Aerrow did something none of them had been expecting. He dropped his swords and raised his hands in the air.

"No…" Clarke breathed in horror, realising instantly. "Aerrow!"

Aerrow turned around to face her. "May we meet again." he whispered.

At that moment, several grounders rushed out of the bushes nearby. They were quick to grab Aerrow and whisk him away. The others could only stare in shock. In an instant, Aerrow Eroxin had vanished.


	25. Chapter 25

_FLASHBACK_

_Aerrow is 14 years old and is having the time of his life. With his laid-back, carefree nature and good looks, coupled with his acing of the guard cadet training, he has friends hanging off him and girls lusting over him. He has yet to meet Arianna._

_He is walking through the corridors of the Ark talking to Dylan. The both of them are headed for another guard training session. In a few years, they will be old enough to advance from cadets to fully fledged guard members, and both of them want to impress._

_They come across an attractive brunette girl about their age walking the other way. As she goes past, Aerrow looks back at her over his shoulder. So distracted is he that he never sees the girl walk out in front of him._

_Clarke huffs as she walked out of the classroom. _Stupid stubborn teachers_ she thinks. She's just spent the last half hour arguing with her biology teacher, saying it's possible that people on the ground could have survived the apocalypse, if their bodies had to right genetic code to filter radiation out of their systems._

_She rushes out of the room in a hurry, wanting only to get back to her room and see her father. Apparently he has some cool new gadget to show her. As such, she is unable to halt her momentum and crashes into someone walking along the corridor._

_Books fly everywhere and the two fall to the floor. Unfortunately for Clarke, the guy she crashed into has fallen on top of her, and he doesn't look like he wants to get up any time soon. He just stares at her, a mix of wonder and mischief in his eyes. He's smirking at her. _

_She recognises him. He's the hotshot among the guard cadets, seemingly perfect at everything he does. But she has no interest in him. Annoyingly, he obviously doesn't feel the same about her._

"_Hey beautiful" he whispers, and before she knows it he's leaning down to kiss her!_

_She is definitely not going to be doing anything like _that, _so she reacts accordingly: she slaps him. Hard._

_He recoils instantly and sits up, his hand placed over his cheek, faking being hurt._

_Clarke gathers her books quickly and stands up. "Stay the hell away from me" she tells the immature teenager, before turning on her heel and walking the other way._

"_Don't be so serious Princess" he calls after her "You can't die without living a little first"_

_He chuckles smugly to himself, before turning back and resuming his walk with Dylan._

"_Someday…" he tells Dylan, "Someday I'll make that girl mine."_

PRESENT

The darkness abated as the grounders removed his blindfold, and Aerrow found himself chained to a pole in the centre of the Commander's tent.

He looked around him quickly. His hands were firmly tied behind his back, and his swords were lain on a table next to one of the walls of the tent. Subconsciously, he felt the left pocket of his pants, hoping to god the grounders hadn't searched him too thoroughly.

They hadn't. He still felt it pressed against his thigh, and he let out the breath he'd been holding.

He turned his attention to the eyes observing him. The commander sat on her chair/throne – he wasn't sure what to call it - with her generals on either side of her. They all glared at him. He could practically feel their hatred. He didn't let it affect him though. This was going to be all about the mind games he could play with them.

He focussed on the Commander though. Clarke said her name was Lexa. The first thing he noticed was how young she was. She'd looked young when he'd first encountered her at the drop ship but up close, she looked even younger than he was! How on earth could she have become the Commander?

The next thing he noticed was the way she looked at him. Her gaze was different to that of her generals. There was anger, sure, but there was something else too. Her eyes swam with perception, as if she was evaluating him, trying to find out what made him tick. And then she spoke.

"Aerrow. You stand before me at last." her voice was slow, but hard.

"Lexa." he replied way too casually.

"Do not say my name!" A flash of anger crept into her voice. Good.

"So you're the Commander?" he asked, keeping his smug tone, "Aren't you a little young?"

Some of her general's shifted angrily. The dark skinned woman – Indra – seemed particularly provoked by his taunts. Lexa was unfazed "Tell me Aerrow. What gives someone the desire to seek out a village of innocents… and slaughter them?"

Aerrow snorted briefly, before replying, "I don't know. You tell me. After all, you did the exact same thing, to _my people._ Or are you so blinded by your hatred of me that you refuse to see the truth that we are one in the same thing?"

"Take back your words, murderer!" Indra demanded, drawing her sword.

Aerrow levelled his gaze at her. "Make me."

Indra growled in fury and advanced towards him, before pressing the tip of her sword into his chest. "Have you heard yourself scream?" she hissed menacingly, "Because I can make you scream."

Aerrow was not intimidated. He knew that, as much as she would like to, Indra would not be allowed to touch him until sunset, when his punishment began. Lincoln had explained what would happen to him. It was not overly inviting. "You can't kill me Indra. Not yet. Patience." he chided her, infuriating the grounder woman even more, if that were at all possible.

Indra raised her sword. To hell with tradition. She was going to kill this vermin here and now.

"Indra!" Lexa called sharply.

Indra halted her movement, though only just.

Lexa stood from her chair and faced Indra and the other generals. "Give us the room." she told them.

"But, Commander-" Indra began

"I said, give us the room!"

Indra reluctantly backed down, and she and the other generals slowly filed out, leaving Aerrow and Lexa alone.

Lexa walked slowly towards him, stopping about a metre away, just staring at him with her piercing gaze. He stared right back.

"You know you are guilty. Yet you seem to think you are innocent. Why?" she asked. He noted carefully the change in her tone. Is was less harsh. She _wanted _to know what was going on inside his head.

"I killed eighteen of your people." he began

"Yes you did."

"But I also killed eighteen of mine." He said slowly. That was his trump card, which he was hoping would appeal to the savage nature of the grounders. "Kinda makes it even, doesn't it?"

Lexa stood still for several moments, evaluating this information, and Aerrow began to get worried. She wasn't like the other grounders. She was much more intelligent. "Then they deserve to see your death as much as I do." she said coldly, turning away.

"You don't really want to kill me Lexa." Aerrow said, "I'm the centre of one of your prophecies. You call me _Naja_!"

"You are not _Naja!" _Lexa whirled around to face him. She took even him by surprise with the anger in her voice.

"Come on." he scoffed, "Are you that much in denial? I know your prophecy. It goes as: a warrior comes down from the sky to fight battles both for and against the grounders. They survive being injected with the venom of their namesake. _That is me!"_

Lexa was silent, but he could still see the pure rage in her eyes. It was strange that he had angered her that much. When she spoke, her voice was low, menacing.

"What you speak of is true. Many know of this prophecy," she said, "but few know of its full details."

Aerrow shrugged. "Enlighten me."

"It is true that _Naja _survives the Cobra venom." She paused, "I have heard many things about you, Aerrow, including how one of my generals brought you into our ranks"

She pulled down the corner of his shirt, exposing one of the tattoos the grounder gave him.

"But you, Aerrow, you were never injected with Cobra venom. You were injected with _Varani _venom."

Aerrow already knew this. He didn't care. It didn't change anything. Maybe he would get injected with the Cobra venom in future.

"There is one more thing." Lexa added. "_Naja is female."_

Aerrow's eyes widened suddenly as the realisation dawned on him, and his previous cocky, confident shell was shattered in a heartbeat.

He knew someone, a girl. A great warrior that had come down from the sky, who fought both for and against the grounders. Who had survived the Cobra venom. That person was-

"Sara…" he breathed in total disbelief

Lexa said nothing. She merely nodded

Aerrow clenched his fist in anger. "And one of your soldiers gutted her like a trout." He spat, voice shaking with rage.

Lexa was unaffected by this. "You loved her, didn't you?" she stated, more than asked.

Aerrow said nothing. He was unable to.

Lexa narrowed her eyes at him. "You'll see her soon." she said coldly as she turned away.

…

Clarke stared dejectedly through the fence of Camp Jaha, watching as the grounders erected a large wooden log out in the open. No doubt it was for Aerrow. They wanted them to see his death.

The last few hours had flown by. She hadn't even registered the long walk back from the drop ship. Her body had been operating on autopilot. She couldn't believe, no, she refused to believe that she had seen him give himself up like that. It was right. It wasn't _him_.

What infuriated her most was that there was nothing she could do to stop what was happening.

Clarke clenched her fist. She made her decision.

She turned away and began walking towards the gate. Bellamy and Raven noticed and quickly caught up with her.

"What are you doing?" Bellamy asked.

"I'm going to talk to the Commander." Clarke replied stoically.

"What else do you have to say?"

"I don't know!" She stopped. She had heard the exasperation, the _desperation_ in her own voice. "I have to try."

"Clarke, give me your hand." Raven said. Clarke turned to her, slightly confused by her request. She froze when she felt the cool metal blade of a knife being slid into her sleeve.

"If she won't let him go… kill her." Raven hissed, "Things will go crazy. Grab Aerrow and get back here."

Clarke remained frozen where she stood.

"Clarke, you have to do this!" Raven begged. "I owe him my life!"

Clarke locked eyes with the mechanic. "So do I." she said.

She turned away and walked out the gate before anyone could stop her. She walked confidently up towards the commander's tent.

Her path was blocked by Indra, who angled her spear towards Clarke. Clarke was having none of it. She pushed forward, until the spear was touching her stomach, and a thin line of blood began trailing down the front of her shirt.

"Let her pass!" Lexa commanded. Indra reluctantly withdrew her spear, allowing Clarke to stride up to the commander.

"You plead for nothing." Lexa said quietly, yet emotionlessly, "You cannot stop this."

"No. only you can." Clarke replied. "Show my people how powerful you are. Show them you're not a savage!"

Lexa only stared at her, face hard. "We are what we are." She said coldly.

"Then I'm a killer!" Clarke blurted, letting her emotions control her, rather than her brain. "I burned three hundred of your people. I slit a man's throat and watched him die. I'm soaked in grounder blood. Take me!"

"But Aerrow is guilty." Lexa said slowly, completely ignorant of Clarke's pleas.

"No! He did it for me! He did it for me…" Clarke was desperate. But Lexa was unmoved. "Then he dies for you." she said.

It was at that moment that Aerrow was brought out, to the sadistic cheers of the grounders. He had been stripped of his shirt so his muscles, scars and tattoos were exposed for all to see as he was chained to the wooden pole where we was to die. Strangely, he did not seem afraid at all. He simply stared up at the sky, his face a picture of total calm.

At the sight of him, Clarke realised something else. _She couldn't let him go._ She did still love him. Whatever hatred she had harboured for him had only been an excuse, her brain trying to cover up for the feelings she still had. She realised that she couldn't bear to see him meet such a cruel fate, and there was really only one, true way to stop it

A tear rolled down her cheek as she turned back to face Lexa. "Can I say goodbye?" she whispered.

Lexa nodded slowly.

Clarke moved past her, and walked over towards Aerrow. Only when she was directly in front of him did he bring his eyes down to meet hers.

Clarke didn't stop moving. She walked up to him and pressed her lips hard against his, savouring the feeling of his kiss, feeling the warmth of his body pressed against hers one last time.

"I love you too." she whispered.

"Don't even think about it" he said suddenly.

Clarke froze. She looked down. The point of the knife Raven gave her was poised millimetres from his heart. He had known. Somehow… he had known…

"Aerrow… they're going to torture you" Clarke said, voice cracking in mental agony

Aerrow kept his eyes locked on hers. The calmness in them had the same effect on her. "Don't worry" he told her. "I have a plan"

"It is time" Lexa called out from behind Clarke's back.

Clarke slowly released her embrace of him and backed away nervously as Lexa approached, a flaming torch held in her hands. Fire. Because he had killed the innocent, his punishment started with fire. Clarke was in no way comfortable with this. Aerrow said he had a plan, but the last time he said that, he had let himself get captured. She hated having no choice but to trust him, but right now there was no alternative.

Lexa strode slowly towards Aerrow. "You should know that I normally take no pleasure in this." She said coldly "But for you I'll make an exception"

Aerrow made no movement as Lexa lowered the flame to his chest. Clarke cringed and shut her eyes. She refused to watch this. He didn't have a plan. It was all just a bluff, and now he was going to-

"Wait!" a strong voice called out. Aerrow's.

Clarke opened her eyes. Lexa had frozen, the torch just centimetres away from him.

"You find me guilty, but through what trial? Your own sentiment?" Aerrow said loudly, so everyone could hear. "Well I demand a different trial…" he levelled his gaze at Lexa. "A trial by combat."

The grounders were silent. None of them could believe what they had just heard. It was unheard of for anyone to challenge the Commander to a duel. How dare this _criminal _do such a thing. Even Lexa was speechless. Of all the things she expected to happen that night, this was not one of them.

A long moment of silence passed, before eventually Lexa raised her chin slightly, and steeled herself. "What are your terms?" She asked calmly, knowing full well that there would be consequences for whoever lost.

Aerrow grinned at her. "It's simple." he began "You win, and my execution can continue. You can do whatever you want to me."

"And if I lose?"

Aerrow's smile vanished, replaced by a steely, piercing, narrow-eyed glare. "I win, and I walk free."

He paused.

"And I become the Commander."

If the grounders were surprised before, now they were positively shocked. Even Clarke was stunned. So this was Aerrow's plan. Even she had to admit that it was genius. If anyone had a chance of defeating the Commander in combat, it was him. And maybe if he was their Commander… the grounders would finally settle for peace…

Aerrow watched Lexa's face closely as she took in his ultimatum. He saw a series of emotions cross her face. Calculation, revulsion, and _pride _were among them. He knew straight away what she would say. He had known all along.

All eyes were on the Commander as the grounders waited for her decision.

Lexa took a step forward towards Aerrow, eyes blazing. The two words tumbled from her mouth in a low growl.

"I accept"


	26. Chapter 26

**Well… here we are folks. This is THE chapter that the story up to this point has been building up to. This chapter was actually a pain to write and even more of a pain to re-write, so I hope I did the duel justice.**

**On that note, the events of this story so far and also what will happen in future chapters may seem very similar to what happened in season 3 of Arrow, but I promise that I conceived the plot line for this story a long time before Arrow S3, even before S2 of The 100 finished. This story may follow the storyline of S2, but it has an entirely different base plot.**

**Right, with all that nonsense out of the way, I present to you: Aerrow vs Lexa.**

Aerrow was cut down from the post and his swords were brought out to him. Somewhat gingerly, he lifted them up, one in each hand, and just held them there with his eyes closed. Feeling their weighting, imagining how he was going to use them. Preparing himself for the coming duel. Considering the importance of the coming fight, he seemed calm. Unnaturally calm.

Lexa meanwhile shrugged off her outer robe, leaving her in only her skin-tight clothing and her chest armour. She too, needed to be as light and nimble as possible for this fight. Her sword remained undrawn in the sheath by her side.

A ring of grounders formed around the two, creating an arena of sorts where the duel would take place. Clarke stood at the edge of it. Although she had no doubt in Aerrow's fighting ability, she was still nervous as hell.

Deep down inside him, Aerrow was too. He knew his own ability, but he had no idea of Lexa's. Surely, as the Commander, she would have received more extensive training than the grounder's he had fought in the past. To what extent, he did not know. In just a few moments, he would find out.

Locking her eyes on him as she did so, Lexa slowly drew her own sword. It was about a metre long, and straight away, Aerrow could tell it had been forged with a higher level of craftsmanship than the other grounder swords. She gripped it in both hands like it was an extension of her arms. She was clearly experienced in wielding it.

Both warriors stood facing each other in the centre of the clearing.

All was silent.

Aerrow shifted his gaze from Lexa to Clarke. He saw the fear in her eyes, the desperation. She didn't want him to beat Lexa, she _needed _him to. He gave her a single, slow nod. Then turned his attention back to his opponent. He took a deep breath.

"Fight." Indra growled.

At first, neither Aerrow nor Lexa made any attacking movements. They simply moved around each other, opposite sides of an invisible circle, just sizing each other up.

Aerrow made a lunge at Lexa. The Commander blocked it easily and quickly. _A little too quickly._ Her senses were on high alert. She was nervous.

Aerrow made a few more half-hearted jabs, all of which his opponent blocked with ease. In truth, he wasn't even trying to maim her. He was toying with her. Figuring her out.

Suddenly, in a rapid counter attack, Lexa came at him with a flurry of swipes with her sword. The attack caught Aerrow off-guard and Lexa sent him to the ground with a powerful kick to the chest.

Aerrow rolled over and propped himself up on his elbows, only to find himself staring right at the tip of Lexa's sword.

"Yield." The Commander growled.

The surrounding grounders were silent with admiration for her. It was over that quickly.

Strangely though, Aerrow did not do anything of the sort. He simply grinned at Lexa, and winked.

Lexa tiled her head slightly, _ever so slightly_, at the bizarre action, but that was all Aerrow needed. Quick as a flash, he parried her sword away, spun himself around – bringing himself back to his feet – and sliced his sword across her face before kicking her away.

He held both his swords at his side. Now he was ready.

"You'll have to do better than that, Commander" he mocked.

Lexa growled in anger. She held her hand up to her stinging cheek. She felt a wetness there. She held her hand in front of her and saw it was covered in blood. Her blood. The murderer had actually managed to wound her. She saw him standing there, so cocky, so confident, and she felt the anger start to flow through her veins. She harnessed it, used the power it gave her. The two warriors charged towards each other, meeting at the centre of the clearing in a clash of blades. The tempo of the fight had escalated exponentially. Now things were serious.

Clarke looked on as the two brought their weapons together in a furious exchange on swipes, lunges and stabs. Both warriors moved fluidly, perfectly in sync with each other. Neither appeared to have the upper hand as the intensity increased, and soon the swords were just blurs of movement.

Aerrow fought grimly. He knew this was about more than just his life or death. Every duel he had ever been in had been like that. No, this was something more. This was something much bigger. This was a battle for supremacy, to see who was better. Not just between he and Lexa, but between the Sky People and the Grounders. This was a battle for supremacy. This was the two deadliest warriors of their respective sides, engaged in a fight to the death, and that was exactly what this was going to be.

Lexa was indeed a supremely skilled swords-woman. Her strikes were coordinated, efficient, accurate. Clearly, she had been trained in this art since she was very young, and she was at one with her weapon. He was grateful for Alexis's training, and her lessons in how to control himself and his still relatively unfamiliar weapons. He was fairly sure that if it weren't for Alexis, he'd have been in a lot more trouble.

Lexa however tired faster than he did, and soon Aerrow broke through her defences with an unexpected, lighting fast upwards swing. He hit her sword up, leaving her exposed and he kicked her backwards. Hard.

She was not going to give up that easily though. She charged right back at him, but he calmly ducked under her swing, grabbed her shoulders and hurled her into the wall of grounders.

For a moment, Lexa let herself stay there, help up only by the grounders. It shouldn't have been possible, she thought. There was no way he could have fought her off for as long as he had. She had been trained since childbirth, she was fairly sure he hadn't been. There were too many inconsistencies in his attacks. However, he still had somehow managed to hold her off, and with relative ease at that. It was like he wasn't human.

But then she pictured the future, of what would happen if she lost.

She picture her dead body, lying on the ground, forgotten, the sky people roaming freely on the ground, taking the land of her people. And finally, her people bowing down to new Commander, a stronger Commander. This… this _Murderer._

It infuriated her. She felt a renewed energy surge through her as she let out a cry of rage and re-engaged him. This time with venom. She wasn't just out to win. She would out to kill.

She flung her sword at him over and over again, and he seemed to be visibly trying harder to block them. This escalated until finally, he caught her blade with his own, and they stood dead still, blades locked together in the centre of the clearing.

Both were dirty, bloody and breathing heavily. The fight had taken its toll on both of them, but neither were going to surrender any time soon, for surrender would mean death.

They stared daggers into each other's eyes. "Impressive." Aerrow jibed. "Sara was better."

For some reason, that comment infuriated Lexa more than any other. Grunting in effort, she broke the stalemate and re-commenced her attack.

This time though, Aerrow was ready. He was focussed, his brain operating crystal clearly. He decided it was time to end this, once and for all.

In the blink of an eye, he unleashed his signature move.

Catching Lexa totally off guard, he swung his sword behind his back, spinning around and swinging at her. Lexa was totally dumbfounded. She had never encountered such an attack before. She only just managed to avoid being beheaded by his sword. She didn't, however, avoid the following kick.

She was sent to the ground, hand gripping her stomach in pain. She was winded, and badly. She tried to will herself to her feet but her exhausted body was unresponsive. She could only flop pathetically to the ground.

She rolled herself over to see Aerrow standing over her, eyes dark, his sword pointed directly at her heart. She closed her eyes in resignation. She knew she had lost.

"Do it!" she hissed defiantly, "Kill me!"

Aerrow hesitated momentarily. The grounders held their breath, waiting for the inevitable, killing blow. Clarke watched on in horror. She had seen that look in his eyes before.

Aerrow raised his sword over his head, and brought it down fast and hard, impaling…

…the ground beside Lexa.

Everyone was stunned, the grounders, Clarke, and none more so than Lexa.

Clarke watched as Aerrow stood up. This time, he looked directly at her. She looked into his eyes, and gasped slightly. The darkness, the pain, the fiery rage. It was gone. Replaced by a dark purple. Not the gleam they used to have, but not the jet black they had been only moments before.

When he spoke, his voice was soft, directed only at her. "I'm not that monster" he said "Not anymore."

Despite the watching grounders – who were still frozen in shock – Clarke raced towards him and embraced him tightly. In that moment, she didn't love anything in the world more than him.

He let his swords drop to the ground as he returned her embrace. He let himself bury his head in her blonde hair in relief that it was all over.

Suddenly, a cry of rage sounded from behind them.

To Clarke, it was like it happened in slow motion. Aerrow separated from her and turned around just as Lexa got back to her feet.

She stared in horror. She saw Lexa swing her sword across Aerrow's chest. She saw him spin around to face her, saw the deep gash that had just been opened up on his chest, saw the blood starting to pour out. And finally, she saw him collapse onto the ground.

Clarke screamed as she dropped to her knees by his side.

"Aerrow… no…" she stammered.

Aerrow looked up at her, water forming in his eyes. Not even he could withstand the pain of the wound Lexa had just inflicted. It was like what Dylan had done all over again. He could feel his blood flowing from the wound, down the sides of his body where it stained the ground red. "It's ok, Clarke." he spluttered, "You're safe now. It's over."

Clarke stared at the wound Lexa had inflicted on him. Up close, it wasn't as deep as she first thought. She realised in horror that Lexa hadn't even _tried _to kill him. She still wanted his execution to go ahead.

Aerrow reached up to stroke her cheek. He brought his other hand up to his mouth briefly, before swallowing painfully. "Do it." he whispered.

The world around her froze. She knew exactly what he meant.

She leant down over him, close to his face.

"You're ok." she whispered, "You're going to be ok."

Aerrow chuckled softly "Don't be so serious princess" he choked out "You can't die without living a little first."

Clarke held him close as his breath began to even out, and she _felt _his body relax against hers. In that clearing, in the arms of the girl he loved, Aerrow Eroxin breathed his last.

Clarke leaned back slowly, revealing his chest.

Sticking out of it, was her knife.

She had killed him.

It took a second for the situation to sink in to the grounders, but when they realised, they shouted angrily, drew their weapons and charged towards her, only to be stopped by Lexa. "It is done!" the Commander said loudly.

Clarke just kept her eyes on Aerrow's motionless body. Tears flowed down her cheeks as his words echoed over and over inside her head.

_Don't be so serious princess. You can't die without living a little first._

The first – And last – words he had ever spoken to her.

**Well then… how on Earth is Aerrow going to come back from this one? Stay tuned for more to find out…**


	27. Chapter 27

Clarke sat in the Commander's tent. Alone. Heartbroken. And utterly, utterly horrified.

Her mind tortured her, constantly replaying what she had just witnessed over and over again in a never ending reel of torment.

She saw Aerrow getting captured, him challenging Lexa, him refusing to kill her, Lexa felling him, and finally-

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and forced herself not to think of that. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at her hands. They were covered in blood. _His blood._ Only then did the full realisation come crashing down on her: _She had killed him_. The person she loved, she had taken his life. She had thought him dead in the past, but she had never known for sure.

Now she did.

Aerrow was _gone_. And this time, there was no getting him back.

Pure anguish and misery rose up inside her, and she was unable to control herself as she burst into tears and began frantically trying to remove the blood from her hands. She felt sick to her stomach as she scrubbed the blood from her hands. The blood that labelled her as Aerrow's killer. So distraught was she that she never even realise she wasn't alone anymore until she felt her mother's arms gently wrap around her.

She didn't even try to hide her pain. "They would have tortured him… I had to…" she sobbed, "I had to…"

She wasn't even thinking clearly anymore. Her emotional distress and heartbreak had long ago taken over her ability to think clearly. Clarke just clutched desperately at her mother and buried her head into Abby's shoulder.

"What have I done?" she whispered miserably.

It was at that moment that a grounder walked into the tent. "The Commander is ready to talk." he told her. Clarke instantly forced her tears to stop. She couldn't afford to let the grounders see this side of her. She separated herself from her mother and nodded at the grounder.

Clarke gathered herself and her thoughts together as best she could before Lexa walked in, followed by her generals. Her sword was back in its sheath at her hip, and her outer robe was back on. Her face was hard and her emotions unreadable as always as she sat down on her throne, but even Clarke could see something had changed in her eyes. Everyone knew that Aerrow had won that duel. It was only through his own choosing that she was there and not him. She could have, and perhaps should have been dead, and Lexa knew that more than anyone else.

"Blood has answered blood." Lexa began, "Some of my people say that's' not enough. They wanted the murderer to suffer as our tradition demands."

_He has a name. _Clarke thought _He was a person_. She hated the way Aerrow had been turned into nothing but an object, a weapon. It made her all the more sick that not that long ago, she had thought the same thing. She was determined to remember him for the person he was, not the things he had done.

"But they do not know that your suffering will be worse." Lexa continued, staring directly at Clarke, "What you did tonight will haunt you until the end of your days."

Clarke shut her eyes, well aware of the suffering that was to come. She had seen how Aerrow had been affected by the loss of those he had loved. He never had to kill them.

"Still, there will be restitution." Lexa went on, interrupting Clarke from her thoughts. "The body will be given to the people of Tondc, murderer and murdered joined by fire. Only then can we have peace."

"No, we've done enough." Kane spoke up, "The boy deserves to be buried by his own people."

_He doesn't have any people. Not anymore. _Clarke thought sadly.

"Enough?" Indra growled. "We were _owed _the pain of eighteen deaths, we were _owed_ our righteous kill. My village deserves justice!"

"You don't want justice. You want vengeance." Abby responded quickly, now getting very angry at Indra's stubborn bloodlust.

"You have not seen my vengeance!" Indra hissed.

"We'll do it." a detached, dejected voice spoke up. Clarke's. Everyone turned to look at her. "But when it's over, we talk about how to get our people out of Mount Weather."

"We want the same things Clarke." Lexa said slowly.

"Good." Clarke replied. "When do we leave?"

"Now. Choose your attendance" Lexa said as she stood up, before exiting the room without another word.

Clarke made to follow, but was stopped by her mother. "You don't have to do this." Abby told her.

Clarke just shook her head slightly. "Yes I do. If this truce doesn't hold, I killed Aerrow for nothing."

…

Clarke walked out of the tent and began moving over to where Aerrow's body lay. She didn't want to, but she knew she had to.

His body still lay where that duel had taken place, where Lexa had felled him, where she-

Clarke forced the thought from her head. The less she thought about it, the better.

She saw Bellamy and Raven standing over his body, while Octavia knelt in front of him, holding his head in her hands. She examined their faces closely. Raven looked angry. Seriously angry. Clarke knew why. She had wanted her to kill Lexa, had _begged _her to kill Lexa, yet she had made the choice to kill the person Raven had asked her to save. Octavia was visibly saddened by the loss of her friend, but at the same time there was a strange kind of acceptance, like she knew there that what happened had happened, and there was no use in wishing the change the past – a quality she no doubt had picked up from Lincoln. Bellamy meanwhile just looked like he was in total disbelief that Aerrow had lost the duel.

"So what happens now?" Bellamy asked quietly as she walked up.

"They're taking him back to the village where the massacre took place, there's a death ritual. It's the only way to get our people out of Mount Weather."

Bellamy nodded slowly, before touching Octavia lightly on the shoulder, and the two siblings began walking back to the camp. Raven lingered, staring daggers at Clarke, before eventually she too forced herself to turn away, leaving Clarke and Aerrow.

Clarke stared at his body. He looked so… peaceful… like he was finally free, released from this life he never wanted. She slowly let herself drop to her knees by his side and just sat there, stroking his cheek softly, silently saying her goodbyes. _Someone has to put an end to this. Whatever the cost._ Aerrow's words flashed through her head. He had said them before the battle with the grounders at the drop ship. She wondered how much more she would have to sacrifice before she got the rest of her friends out of the mountain.

Suddenly, she heard a rustling noise. She looked up to see Aerrow's Lace Monitor come stalking out of the darkness. The moonlight reflected of its soft scales as it approached slowly, taking only a few steps at a time before pausing slightly. It completely ignored her. It only had eyes for Aerrow. Clarke stayed completely still as the lizard nudged Aerrow's side. Of course, Aerrow made no movement so the lizard tried again. Upon receiving the same reaction, the big lizard crawled onto Aerrow's bare chest, tucked its head close under his chin, curled its tail around itself and let out a long, high pitched sound. Clarke's heart broke in half. The lizard was mourning its fallen friend.

Two grounders approached to take Aerrow's body away, only for the lizard to lash out at them angrily with its tail. The grounders drew their swords to retaliate but Clarke stopped them. "Just wait a minute, please." She told them. The grounders backed down.

Staying on her knees, Clarke leaned forward to bring herself to eve level with the hissing Lace Monitor, which was now standing up on its back legs with its throat puffed out to make itself look as intimidating as possible to the grounders. As soon as Clarke moved, its intelligent eyes locked straight onto her.

Ignoring how stupid she no doubt looked, Clarke brought her head closer to the Lace Monitor. "I'm sorry." she whispered, "I loved him too."

She knew there was no way the lizard would be able to understand her. Such animals did not possess the ability to empathise or feel emotion. They operated only off instinct. So she was shocked then, when the big lizard's eyes softened with something along the lines of understanding and it lowered itself back down. Then it carefully pulled the yellow feather out of the braid in Aerrow's hair, before – still clutching the feather in its mouth – it walked off, disappearing into the night.

Wide eyed, Clarke stared after it, in both shock and awe at what she had just witnessed. She never could have imagined the bond that existed between the big lizard and Aerrow, and she realised that was the legacy he left behind. He had an incredible ability to influence people's lives. For good or bad, Aerrow Eroxin had made a huge impact in the lives of everyone who had met him since landing on the ground.

Forcing the tears welling in her eyes back down once more, she nodded at the grounders, who immediately moved forward and picked Aerrow's body up to prepare it for the journey to Tondc. As they did so, Clarke noticed something that made her blood run cold.

_Aerrow's eyes were open._

He was staring at her. Silently. Intensely. It was not the look of blank, dead eyes. It was the look of someone who was…

_Alive._

Clarke stared in shock and horror. There was no way… no way he could still be alive. She shook her head furiously. After all the stress and emotional torture the night had been, she must have been hallucinating.

Still, when the grounders came back a short while later, carrying a stretcher on which Aerrow's body lay – now wrapped in tree bark – Clarke couldn't help but notice that the shape of the body under that bark was not like Aerrows. It was taller, broader, thicker. Again, it must have just been her mind playing tricks on her, trying desperately to convince her that there was some way the person she loved was still alive. But there wasn't. Aerrow was dead. There was no changing that.

…

The uneasy blend of grounders and sky people walked along the leaf covered road – obviously having survived the apocalypse – heading toward the village of Tondc. Lexa and her guard headed the group, followed by the horse drawn cart carrying Aerrow's body. Following at the rear of the group were the sky people.

Clarke walked along in her own world, trying to shut out her emotions as well as what she had seen the previous night. She glanced around at the surrounding forest, looking for threats, but then she saw him again.

He was just standing there, on the edge of the forest, staring at her with that same intense, unblinking purple eyed gaze.

"Hey." Bellamy's voice shattered her trance. She tore her eyes away and looked at Bellamy instead. "You doing alright?" her friend asked her, obviously having noticed the confusion and distress wrapping around her brain like a constricting python.

Clarke glanced back to the part of the forest she had just seen Aerrow, only to see he had vanished. She squeezed her eyes shut. Another hallucination.

"Yeah." She lied.

"You did the right thing." Bellamy told her. He meant it too. Sure, he was saddened by Aerrow's death, and without his fighting skills, the task of defeating the Mountain Men had just become that much harder, but at the same time Bellamy had known that there was no saving Aerrow as soon as he had given himself up. At least Clarke had given him a quick and painless death.

"Now I get to live with it." Clarke muttered to herself. "You still think this truce is a bad idea don't you?" she asked Bellamy, needing to take her mind of the events of the previous night.

"I think we're wasting time with politics while our friends are in trouble." he replied.

"We need their army to get to Mount Weather, Bellamy and you know it."

"Their army has been getting their asses kicked by Mount Weather forever." Bellamy paused. "What we need is an inside man, someone to be our eyes and ears."

"No." Clarke replied immediately. "It's too dangerous, forget it."

"Clarke, if you can make it out, I can make it in-"

"I said no!" Clarkes voice was flushed with emotion as she said it, something Bellamy picked up on as well.

"Since I don't take orders from you, I'm gonna need a better reason."

Clarke grimaced slightly. She knew the exact reason why, and it made her blood boil in both sadness and anger. "I can't lose you too." She told him simply. It was true. Losing Aerrow had already devastated her. If Bellamy died too, whilst trying to perform an unnecessary mission… she couldn't even begin to imagine how she would feel. Bellamy seemed to notice this and nodded – albeit rather reluctantly – in understanding for how she felt, not for the reason she gave him.

…

It was a long journey to reach Tondc, one that involved an overnight stop to rest, but eventually the group made it to the village.

The reception they received was hostile to say the least. As soon as they came into view, angry villagers approached, shouting curses at the sky people, still furious at what Aerrow had done. This walls of some huts were still stained red from his massacre. Clarke grimaced as she saw them, and pictured what must have happened… Aerrow killing the innocent villagers in grief driven rage… hacking his way through men, women and children without mercy… she felt vomit start to rise in her throat.

The angry villagers were quickly silenced by Lexa, who declared forcefully "The Sky people march with us now! Anyone who tries to stop that will pay with their life!"

Clarke winced at the brutality of her command. She began to think that Aerrow and Lexa weren't so different after all.

A funeral pyre was quickly erected, with the bodies of the eighteen dead piled on top of each other, around which a ring of wood was stacked, with a roof placed above. Finally, the body of Aerrow was lain on top of the entire thing.

The villagers all gathered around as Lexa spoke in the grounders language, which Lincoln translated for the Sky people. "People of Tondc. In fire, we cleanse the pain of the past." A flaming torch was handed to Lexa, who moved to lower it onto the pyre, but stopped herself, and instead gestured for Clarke to lower the torch instead.

Clarke absolutely did not want to do what Lexa was asking of her. She had already killed Aerrow. She didn't want to be the one to obliterate him forever, but she knew that if she wanted the truce to hold, she would have to. She reluctantly stepped forward and took the torch off Lexa.

She paused for a moment as she said her silent goodbyes. Images flashed through her head. From the first time she had crashed into him in the hall of the Ark and he tried to kiss her, to when he saved her life by taking down the panther on the ground, when her lips were pressed hard against his for the first time, and finally, when he refused to kill Lexa in that duel.

She made to lower the torch, but she couldn't. Her arm remained frozen.

"I can't do this." she told Lexa quietly.

"But you must." The Commander replied "The dead are gone, Clarke. Until you accept that, the past will haunt you forever." She paused. "Love is weakness."

Clarke froze.

Those were the same words Aerrow had said to her, under the disguise of Xavier, back in that decrepit house all those nights ago. His words replayed themselves in her mind.

"_We must avoid love. It is the most awful of emotions because it is the most influential. At any moment the person we care for could be taken from us, and that is a distraction we simply cannot have. Love, beyond anything else, is nothing more than the most pitiful weakness."_

And then, something snapped in Clarke's mind. All of this, Aerrow's massacres, the conflict he caused and the ultimate loss of his life and the devastation of hers, had all been from that one goddamn emotion called 'love'. A new feeling began rising inside her chest. A feeling of deep, deep anger. In that moment, Clarke made a resolution within herself to never allow herself to be affected by love again.

Her eyes hardened as she stared at the pyre, and the bark-wrapped body lying on top of it.

"_Your fight is over."_ she spoke in the grounders language, before lowering the torch without hesitation.

The outer logs caught fire quickly, and the fire soon spread until the entire pyre was alight.

Staring through the flames, Clarke saw movement at the edge of the forest. It was Aerrow. Again. This time though, Clarke glared at him through narrowed eyes. Instead of feeling regret, she now only felt anger. "Love is weakness." She hissed at her hallucination.

Aerrow's face changed to one of sadness, but also acceptance. And he silently turned around, disappearing in an instant into the forest.

Soon, the pyre was gone, and with it, any trace of Aerrow Eroxin.


	28. Chapter 28

Time passed by quickly. Days came and went in a blur, almost seeming to blend together until eventually, over a week had passed since the truce was called, and Clarke found herself embracing her new-found renunciation of love. Discarding whatever feelings she had for him, she had sent Bellamy off to infiltrate Mount Weather, despite the obvious risks involved. Any lingering feelings for Aerrow had been all but forgotten entirely.

She currently found herself in an underground bunker in Tondc with Lexa and her generals, standing around a table, on which was a model of Mount Weather. They were in the middle of discussing how to take the Mountain and get their people back. Well… 'discussing' was a very loose term. More like arguing. Very loud and violent arguing.

"What if we shut it down from the outside?" Lexa offered. "You said a dam gives them power, let's take that away."

Clarke disagreed. "That dam withstood a nuclear war, Commander, I highly doubt-"

"ENOUGH!" one of the grounders – a man named Quint - shouted as he brought his fists down, bashing them on the table. "All she offers is 'no'!" he growled.

"Quint!" Lexa responded, ice in her voice.

"Apologies Commander." Quint said as he leant back slowly, realising his mistake. "But the biggest army we've ever had waits for us to give it a mission. The longer that takes, the more of our people die inside that mountain!" He glanced briefly at Clarke, before continuing. "She says she has a plan." He spoke to the generals around the table. "Well I say waiting for one man to get inside is not a very good one."

"I agree with Quint." Another general spoke up. "We have an army, let's use it!"

"We will!" Clarke told the generals. "After Bellamy lowers their defences, shuts off the acid fog. I don't care how many men you have! If you can't get to your enemy you can't win!" She was beginning to lose her patience. She knew she needed the grounder's army to get her people back, but if there was anything she'd learnt from Aerrow, it was that a good plan is better than any army, something the grounders didn't seem to realise. They were all aggression, people who only knew one way of life: hunt, fight, kill, _survive_. They acted without thinking, or planning things out properly. No wonder they'd been getting their asses handed to them by the technologically superior and frankly more intelligent Mountain Men.

"You are the enemy!" Quint hissed at her.

"I'm sorry have I done something to offend you?"

"Yes..." Quint drawled, advancing menacingly towards her. Behind her, Clarke's guard secretly lowered his hand to his pistol. "You burnt my brother alive in a ring of fire."

Clarke was unperturbed. She sidled up to Quint and looked him dead in the eye. "He shouldn't have attacked my ship." She told the angry general.

"You're very brave under the Commander's protection aren't you."

Clarke made no movement. The two remained where they were, glaring at each other, until finally Lexa called an end to the stand off. Eyes black with anger, Quint declared that he could not be a part of the alliance, yet returned to his place around the table, fearful of the Commander's wrath.

"Quint's right." Lexa said suddenly. Clarke whipped her head around to look at her. "Waiting for Bellamy is not a plan. It's a prayer, one that's not likely to be answered."

Clarke squeezed her eyes shut in frustration and groaned inside. Why did this have to be so damned difficult? "Excuse me," Clarke said to the grounders. "I need some air." Without saying another word, she turned on her heel and left the room.

…

Clarke walked through the forest aimlessly, her mind totally adrift. Her head was awash with many thoughts and emotions. Anger and frustration mostly, but also annoyance. Yet again, she found herself wondering how hard it could possibly be to just cooperate! She cursed herself for being so naïve to think that calling the truce was the hard part (and if she was honest with herself, it wasn't even thanks to her that the truce was called). No, the hardest part was making the truce work, actually convincing their two groups of people to work together.

The space around her began to feel very empty, like something was missing. She knew straight away what it was: Aerrow. She may have forgotten her feelings for him, but she hadn't forgotten him as a person, and right now she really could have used his presence. As hostile as the grounders had been to him at times, they respected his strength and skill as a warrior. She couldn't help but wonder if they had so desperately wanted him dead because they were in fact _afraid_ of him, of what he could do. He would have made a powerful ally for the grounders, and his sharp mind and intricate tactical knowledge would have been invaluable right now.

She was suddenly overcome with a feeling that she was being watched. She heard a branch snap to her left and turned to see what had caused it. She saw the same grounder, Quint, standing about 30 metres away from her. That could not have been a coincidence. She began to feel slightly uneasy.

She turned away and kept walking, desperately trying to ignore his presence, but then he called out "Not so brave now, are you Sky-girl?"

She turned to face him again, but felt her blood run cold when she was unable to see him. _He had vanished._

A sharp whistling sound cut through the air, and Clarke felt a whoosh as something passed over her left shoulder, before she heard the 'thwack' of something impacting a tree behind her. She turned and saw the end of an arrow sticking out of the tree and her eyes widened as her uneasiness quickly changed into real, genuine fear. She turned and ran in the other direction as fast as she could.

Clarke sprinted through the trees, trying to get away from the grounder. She needed to get back to the bunker, but she had no idea where she was. Great. All alone with a madman hunting her down, and she was lost. All she could do was run, and hope she could lose him in the forest.

Eventually, she could run no more, and she was forced to come to a panting halt, doubled over, clutching her side. She looked behind her, but there was no sign of the grounder, and she allowed herself to feel the slightest bit of security.

But then came the sound of a branch breaking. She whipped around and brought her pistol up, ready to shoot the grounder, but instead of Quint, her guard came stumbling over the slight crest in the terrain. "Willis, thank god!" Clarke breathed in relief. "Quint, he-" she cut herself off when the guard turned his body slightly, revealing his right side.

_His entire arm was missing_. Ragged strips of flesh hung loosely from where Willis's upper arm _should_ have been, and a few jagged white splinters of bone were also visible. A torrent of blood poured from the hideous injury, and Clarke found herself holding back the vomit that was welling in her throat. "save… yourself…" the unfortunate guard spluttered, before collapsing to the ground, dead.

Clarke stared at the dead guard in horror. It could only have been Quint. There was nothing else in this forest that could have done this while still allowing the victim to survive. What terrified her most was the sheer _ferocity_ of the dismemberment. Willis's arm hadn't been cut off with a sword. It had been violently _ripped _from his body. Clarke felt a whole new sense of fear. If Quint had done _that _to her guard… _what was he going to do to her?_

Clarke didn't want to stay around to find out. She took off in the other direction, but she hadn't gone more than a hundred metres when she was tackled to the ground by Quint.

The more powerful grounder quickly got the better of her, pinning her arms to the ground and drawing his knife. He held it above him, about to plunge it into her chest, when another knife came flying from nowhere and hit Quint's wrist with such force that it drove itself _right through_ his wrist. Quint shouted in pain and dropped his own knife. The Commander – who had evidently thrown the knife – was on the scene in seconds, along with her own guard.

Clarke got back to her feet quickly and took several steps back from the groaning Quint, drawing her pistol and aiming it squarely at his head. "_Attack her and you attack me!" _Lexa hissed at Quint in the grounder's language as she forcefully yanked her knife out of his wrist, before looking up at Clarke. "Where's your guard?" she demanded.

Clarke glared at Quint as the image of the dismembered guard flashed through her brain. "He killed him." She told Lexa, ice in her voice.

"_She lies!" _Quint said as he got back to his feet, trying to escape the fate which he knew would inevitably await him. "_My fight is only with her!"_

"_Your fight is over." _Lexa growled at him. Quint stared at the Commander wide eyed in both shock and horror.

Lexa was unfazed, instead turning to look at Clarke. "The kill is yours." She told her.

Clarke froze. She suddenly became very aware of the pistol she still gripped tightly in her hand. It suddenly felt very heavy. She had no idea what to do. She was angry at Quint for what he had done to Willis, and that dark part of her wanted to see him suffer in the same way, however another part of her knew this was wrong, killing an unarmed man. Lexa stared at her expectantly, but Clarke hesitated. Maybe… maybe if she could show the grounders that killing is not always the answer, that a merciful leader will be respected more than a tyrannical one…

She never got to finish her thoughts, for it was at that moment that a bone-chilling roar echoed through the trees. It was like nothing she had ever heard before. It was utterly animalistic, totally deranged, and whatever had made it sounded big. Very big.

"what is that?" Clarke whispered in terror.

"_Pauna_" Lexa breathed back, equally frightened if her tone of voice was anything to go by.

Suddenly, she drew her sword and sliced it across Quint's leg. The man howled in pain and collapsed to the ground, unable to stand.

"RUN!" Lexa shouted. Clarke was briefly shocked at the Commander's actions, but then she heard the beast roar again, and all those thoughts left her head, replaced one overwhelming one: _Escape_. She took off after Lexa and her guard.

Behind her she heard Quint's screams as whatever 'Pauna' was came closer. It must have found him. In a strange way, part of her wanted to find out what 'Pauna' was. Was it one of those wolf like things that had attacked her and Aerrow? Was it one of the Panthers that she had been attacked by in her first days on the ground? Or was it something else entirely? She heard Quint's screams reach fever-pitch and then, in an instant, they were cut off by the hideous sound of crunching bones. Clarke changed her mind. She _definitely_ didn't want to find out what 'Pauna' was.

"We need to hide!" Lexa shouted as they ran. Off to her right, Clarke spotted a metal grate covering a pipe. She quickly called the other two over and they hurriedly removed the grating and crawled into the pipe. Clarke emerged from the other end of the pipe and found herself in what could only be described as a slaughterhouse.

She appeared to be standing in some sort of compound. She was surrounded by destroyed blocks of ugly grey concrete and imposingly high walls. There were a few steel structures running over the top of the compound, and at its centre was some sort of balcony. These details weren't what caught her attention though. It was the vast quantity of decomposing animal carcasses. The putrid corpses of horses, deer and even – Clarke noticed in horror – a few humans lay scattered all over the compound.

"What is this place?" she breathed.

"It's feeding ground." Lexa replied, just as much fear in her voice as she realised that, of all the places they could have gone, they had come to the lair of the beast.

"We need to get out of here!" Clarke said. Neither Lexa nor her guard were about to disagree, and they made to crawl back through the pipe, when another roar sounded. Closer this time.

The three humans exchanged nervous glances as they realised they weren't going to have time to escape. They instead clambered up the pile of shattered concrete until they were standing on the flatter top of the pile. Lexa and her guard both drew their swords. Clarke just held her pistol in front of her, trying to ignore her now furiously shaking hands.

There came a crashing of wood as trees were knocked over to their left. All three turned to try and spot the beast, but they saw nothing. All was still.

And then, suddenly, a giant _Gorilla _leapt over the walls of the compound.

Lexa's guard never stood a chance. The Gorilla grabbed him by his shoulders and bashed the man into the ground, breaking every bone in his body, before tossing him into the wall of the compound. The unfortunate guard just thudded into the ground, deader than dead.

Then the monstrous animal turned its attention to Clarke and Lexa.

The Gorilla roared at the two, baring its fearsome teeth and beating its chest wildly. Clarke did the only thing she could think of. She brought her gun up and fired. Repeatedly. The Gorilla recoiled from the bullets until eventually it toppled off the rubble pile and landed heavily on the floor of the compound/enclosure.

It made no movement, and Clarke lowered her gun, now out of ammunition. She exchanged a glance with Lexa, and the two peered over the edge of the platform they were on, just as the Gorilla burst back up and swiped at them. The two women jumped back and sprinted away from it, climbing onto the balcony that overlooked the enclosure. The Gorilla was hot on their heels. They came to the edge of the balcony and looked over, only to see that it was a 20 foot drop straight down. Behind them, the Gorilla roared.

Trapped between probable injury by the fall, and certain death by demonic-enraged-Gorilla, Clarke chose the fall. She leapt over the balcony and let herself drop. She hit the ground hard and instantly felt a searing pain shoot up her right leg. She spotted a door at the end of the narrow passageway she was in and limped toward it, clutching her ankle.

Lexa was right behind her. She stowed her sword in the holster on her back and jumped off the balcony just in time. However that was where her luck ran out. She had the misfortune of landing on the skull of what used to be a human, and as such her feet skated out to the side and she slammed into the ground, and heard a sickening crack as her left shoulder dislocated.

Clarke heard Lexa scream in pain, and she rushed back to help the grounder woman, just as the Gorilla hurled itself off the balcony, crashing into the side of the enclosure before landing in front of them. The two women froze in terror as the Gorilla rose to its full height. It must have been 12 feet tall. Its face was one of pure rage as it bared its 3 inch long teeth at them. Clarke and Lexa exchanged a horrified look. They knew they were trapped. They knew they were going to die, and there was nothing they could do about it. There was just no way you could fight such a monstrous creature.

It was at that moment though that a black figure came leaping from _outside _the enclosure, to the total surprise of both women. The figure held in their hands two jet black, thin bladed swords and plummeted gracefully downwards, landing on the Gorilla's back and plunging their swords into its hide.

The beast howled in fury and began throwing itself around, trying to shake its attacker off, but the figure held on tightly. Clarke and Lexa stared at the scene in both shock and wonder. Who the hell could be stupid enough to attack _that_? Whoever they were, they were dressed entirely in black. Black trousers and a black long sleeved shirt, over the top of which was some seriously sleek looking, gun-metal grey body armour. The armour appeared to be a part of the clothing itself, and covered the figures chest, abdomen and back. It seemed to be able to move with the wearer, the plates of armour interlocking and moving as the figure wrested with the Gorilla. To top the look off, the figure wore a black hood with a black half-face mask, and black paint around their eyes, completely concealing their identity.

Clarke didn't plan on staying around to find out who they were, as the Gorilla finally tossed its attacker off its back and was now furiously trying to kill them. The figure in black was fast though, and was able to dodge the Gorilla's blows with nimble feet and lighting fast reflexes. A pained grunt from Lexa drew her attention away from the battle. She dragged Lexa through the open hatch at the bottom of the wall of the corridor and was about to shut it when she heard the Gorilla roar in fury and the next instant the figure in black was hurled through the hatch with enough force to send them crashing through a door on the other side of the room. Clarke stared in shock but was spurred into action when she heard the booming footsteps of the advancing Gorilla. She kicked the hatch shut, then dragged Lexa through the now open door, jamming it shut behind her with Lexa's sword.

With the Gorilla's roars now muffled by multiple layers of solid steel, Clarke allowed herself to collapse back against the wall of the room in utter relief.

Once she was breathing somewhat normally again, she opened her eyes to look at Lexa, expecting to see the Commander examining her dislocated arm, or even trying to reset it herself. She was surprised then, when she saw Lexa instead staring ahead of her, wide eyed in total, utter fear. Clarke narrowed her eyes, perplexed, then followed her line of sight to discover that Lexa was staring at the limp, unconscious body of the figure in black who had saved them. She wondered how Lexa could possibly be so afraid of this person.

"Who is he?" She asked Lexa quietly.

"He is a _Qinta_" Lexa whispered back (she pronounced the word 'Chin-ta'). "One of a group of deadly wraiths, messengers of death that kill and vanish like ghosts. No one has ever killed one." She narrowed her eyes in anger. "Until today." Then she drew her dagger and advanced towards the unconscious man.

"Wait!" Clarke called out after her. "He just saved our lives. Shouldn't we find out why?"

"No!" Lexa replied firmly, taking Clarke by surprise with the harshness in her voice. Evidently she had lost people to this group of warriors, and Clarke could understand that she was fearful of them, having seen how this one fought against the Gorilla. "We kill him here and now. When he wakes up he will be a greater threat than Pauna ever was! Qinta are only the most deathly assassins. He will slit our throats without a second thought and be gone in an instant."

Clarke looked Lexa dead in the eye. "Maybe he will." She stated "But I want to see who he is first."

She walked ahead of Lexa over to where the unconscious man lay. Cautiously, she knelt beside him and slowly removed his facemask. Then she stumbled back in complete shock.

Never could she ever have expected this.

She was looking at none other than Aerrow Eroxin.

**Wait… what? **

**How on earth is Aerrow STILL alive, even after being sliced up by Lexa and then stabbed by Clarke? This question and more will be answered soon. Stay tuned**


	29. Chapter 29

"Oh my God…" was all Clarke was able to speak.

Her mind was racing with a thousand thoughts as she struggled to comprehend the situation. _Aerrow was alive! _It shouldn't have been possible. No, it _wasn't _possible. She had killed him, driven a knife into his heart. She had _felt _his breathing stop and his body go limp against her. There was no possible explanation for why he was still alive.

And yet here he was, alive and well, and now a member of a secret group of assassins. Lovely.

Lexa too, looked totally shocked. The dagger she had been holding dropped from her hand, falling harmlessly to the floor.

Both Clarke and Lexa stood there for a long time just staring at him, until eventually Clarke spoke. "How is this possible?" she whispered to Lexa, as if she was afraid of waking him with her voice.

Lexa was silent for a moment, before swallowing nervously. "There is a way." She stated plainly

"How?"

"When I die, my spirit will find the next Commander." Lexa said cryptically.

Clarke took a moment to realise. "Reincarnation?" she breathed. "That's how you became Commander."

Lexa nodded, and Clarke realised something else. "That's also why you agreed to duel him. You knew that he would never become the Commander unless your spirit chose him. You knew that he couldn't win."

Lexa nodded again.

Clarke did her best to ignore the brief stab of anger she felt at Lexa for that. It was the same as when she had only felled him, wanting his execution to continue. She wasn't like the other grounders. They were plain heartless. Lexa was heartless _and_ smart.

"So what do we do now?" she asked carefully. Lexa made no reply. She kept staring at Aerrow, eyes hard and jaw clenched. She lowered her gaze to her dagger lying at her feet, then looked back at Aerrow. "We kill him." The Commander said firmly.

"No! We can't!" Clarke replied quickly. While still shocked by Aerrow's reappearance, Clarke felt nothing of the feelings she once had for him. That part of her was gone, existing only in the past. She had other, deeper reasons for wanting him alive.

"That is not your decision!" Lexa hissed at her.

"Lexa, think about this!" Clarke said softy, yet firmly, stepping between her and Aerrow. "What will killing him achieve? You kill him now, this group, they will come for revenge. And if they're as deadly as you say they are, that won't end well."

Lexa was silent, and averted her gaze, but Clarke could see the anger burning in her eyes.

"I don't know anything about these… Qinta… but I _know _Aerrow. If we keep him alive, maybe through him we can get the Qinta to _help _us take Mount Weather!"

Lexa whipped her head up to stare at Clarke. "You are right." She said quietly. "You know nothing of the Qinta. You know not of their nature. They are vicious, remorseless killers. They have no concept of peace, nor alliances. They act of their own accord, killing whoever they please." Lexa paused, and took a deep breath. "It was they who abducted Costia for the Ice Nation."

Clarke froze. Costia had been Lexa's… someone. She recalled the Commander telling her about how the Ice Nation had abducted, tortured and killed Costia, only because she was with Lexa, and the rival clan thought they could learn her secrets through her lover. Lexa told her how she had eventually accepted the loss, and embraced the pain by recognising love as weakness, but Clarke could still see the traces of sadness in her eyes and voice.

"You should have left me behind." Lexa said suddenly – in reference to how Clarke had gone back to help her when they were being attacked by the Pauna. "Had _he _not intervened, the two of us would be dead."

Clarke softened her face slightly. "I'm still new to your culture, but when someone saves your life, my people say thank you" she said quietly, walking over to the steel bars on the far side of the room they were in, searching for an alternative way out.

"I'm serious, Clarke." Lexa said from behind her, forgetting about Aerrow for the time being. "To lead well, you must make hard choices."

Clarke let go of the bars, and turned back around to face Lexa. "You're telling me this?" she said in an accusing tone, knowing that both of them were aware of the decision she had made to 'kill' Aerrow.

"I've seen your strength, it's true." Lexa said, unfazed. "But now you waver. You couldn't kill Quint, you couldn't leave me behind. That was weakness!"

Clarke was about to make some sarcastic comment along the lines of 'I thought love was weakness' but it was at that moment something bashed against the door to the room. Clarke and Lexa looked at each other in horror. The Pauna had found them.

Both women were quick to press themselves against the far side of the room, if for nothing else but the feeling of being as far away from the monster Gorilla as possible. On the ground next to them, Aerrow was still motionless.

"Don't be afraid, Clarke. Death is not the end!" Lexa said grimly as the Gorilla continued pounding against the door. Lexa's sword was the only thing stopping it from getting in, and the weapon was visibly bending under the force the Gorilla was exerting on it.

"We are not dying here!" Clarke shouted back, trying to convince herself of that more than anything. Lexa set her face in a grim look, before slowly striding forward and gathering her dagger off the ground. "Then get ready to fight," She said boldly, "because it's coming in!"

"Let it in!" sounded a loud, firm voice from behind them. Clarke and Lexa turned as one to see Aerrow, back on his feet, striding confidently towards the door. He pressed his back against the wall next to the door. "Get over here!" he shouted at the two women. Clarke and Lexa looked at each other briefly, unsure whether they should trust him or not, but they very quickly realised that they didn't really have any other choice, and joined him against the wall.

The pounding on the door increased in intensity. The sword was now severely deformed. It was going to snap at any moment. Aerrow glanced back at Clarke. He saw the fear in her eyes. She stared at him, saw the new found strength, confidence in his purple eyes. He had a totally different demeanour to the sad, lonely person he had been when she last saw him alive. He gave her a small nod of reassurance.

"Ready!" he spoke to the two women, waiting for the right time. This was going to be all about timing. He paused, waiting…. Waiting… for the right… "NOW!" he shouted, at the same time yanking the sword out from where it was wedged. The very next instant, the Gorilla burst through the door with enough force to propel itself right across the room, slamming into the bars forming the back wall.

Aerrow never stopped moving. He darted through the now open door, pulling Clarke and Lexa after him, before quickly slamming the door shut and forcing the heavy steel lock down, trapping the beast inside.

Clarke and Lexa stood together, now back in the corridor where they had nearly been killed hours earlier. They both flinched at the furious roars of the beast as it realised it was trapped. Clarke turned back around to face Aerrow, to ask him any of the million questions she had, but instead she froze. He had completely vanished.

…

Many miles away, back at Camp Jaha, Octavia watched on forlornly as the grounder warriors demonstrated their fighting skills to the Sky people. As she watched them battle in one on one duels, she felt the burning anger in her chest escalate. Ever since Aerrow's death she had been stuck in a constant battle between grief and rage, swinging between the two in an instant. Having Lincoln back helped, but there was only so much comfort she could draw from him. She could not expect him to understand the way she felt about the sudden loss of her friend - and to a certain extent, idol. All her life, she had been hidden, kept from the world, and rejected. In Aerrow, she thought she had found someone who understood the isolation, but him refusing to train her had only compounded that sadness. Yet still she had not wavered in her friendship with him. Somehow, she seemed linked to him. With his death, in a way, she suddenly felt more alone than ever.

And so she watched on as the grounder's battled. She knew just from watching them that Aerrow would have been able to best them quite easily. They were brute force, no technique. She had been overcome by a desperate need to join the fight, to continue Aerrow's legacy in some way, yet Indra had turned her down, saying "Only warriors train here." The ultimate insult.

Suddenly, Indra called a halt to the fighting, declaring that it was time to hunt. As the grounders gathered their weapons to leave the camp, Octavia clenched her jaw. Decision made, she walked confidently over to the grounders and stood in front of Indra, bringing them to a stop.

"Time for one more?" she asked, keeping her voice flat and even.

"Step aside, Sky-girl!" Indra commanded, but Octavia remained where she was. "Make me." she declared defiantly.

She saw Indra clench her jaw, and the anger flash across her eyes. But there was something else there… something sinister… "Fio!" Indra called, summoning her best warrior. "Give this girl what she wants!"

Indra stepped aside as Fio drew his sword and twirled it in front of him confidently. Octavia drew her own sword and stepped forward to meet him. Around them, a crowd began to form, comprised of both the Sky people and the grounders, creating a nearly identical situation as there had been when Aerrow had duelled Lexa. Good.

Octavia examined Fio, evaluating him. The man was a beast. He was at least 20 centimetres taller than her and about twice her weight. He had a broad, barrel chest and huge biceps. The ultimate grounder warrior. Suddenly, he faked a lunge at her, accompanied by a shout, intended to intimidate her. Octavia couldn't help but jump back a little, but then she focussed. There was no turning back now. Aerrow had never backed down from a fight. Neither would she. She held her sword out in front of her. "Let's do this..." She challenged Fio, before suddenly exploding forward and swinging her sword at him violently.

If she had been able to take him by surprise, he didn't show it. He blocked her strikes easily, then hit back with frighteningly powerful ones of his own. Octavia simply didn't have the strength to block them, and Fio quickly sent her to the ground. As she rolled around in the mud, trying to get up, Fio turned his back to her and made to re-join the rest of the grounders, thinking the battle was over. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction

"hey!" she called out, getting back on her feet. "Are you gonna give up that easily?"

Fio came at her again, but this time she was ready. With her mind ultra-focussed and her every sense on high alert, she sidestepped one swing, before ducking another. She felt her anger flowing through her. She channelled it all into one swing, aiming right at her opponent's head, only to have Fio grab her wrist with ease, before kicking her stomach, elbowing her mouth, and flinging her to the ground.

Octavia lay on her back in the mud, gasping for breath. She felt pain shooting through her, but she wasn't going to give up. She wouldn't. She couldn't…

She rose to her feet once more, to the surprise of everyone watching, including Fio. Blood was running from her nose, and she looked like hell. But she was still standing. She charged at Fio, flinging punches at him in utter fury, in desperation to prove herself… to prove that Aerrow was wrong… to prove… that she was good enough…

She somehow managed to break through Fio's defences, and punched him square in the face. The big grounder froze, shocked that she had been able to lay a hand on him. But then he hit her back. Hard.

The grounder pummelled her over and over again, alternating between kicks and punches. Octavia buckled under the assault and screamed in pain as Fio kicked her clear.

In a last ditch move, she grabbed her sword and came at Fio, trying to replicate the move Aerrow had pulled on her, when he had refused to train her. She spun around, twirling her sword behind her back, taking Fio by surprise. She brought herself back around to face him, swung her sword at him and…

…hit nothing. Her sword just sliced through thin air. She had missed him. He stared at her in amusement. Then he _laughed. _Utterly enraged, Octavia could think only to swing her fist at him, only to have him catch her wrist again. Involuntarily, She coughed up blood and spat it into his face. The big grounder just smiled as he wiped the blood of his face. Then he felled her with one, brutal punch to the gut.

Octavia dropped like a stone. She lay on the ground pathetically, willing her body to get up, to fight back. But she couldn't… she couldn't…

Fio stood over her, preparing to kick her once more, only to be stopped by Indra, who shouted "Enough! Even a fool knows when to surrender."

Staring down at her triumphantly, Fio finally backed away, and the grounders left to go hunting, without so much of a second glance back at her. Eventually, Kane came to her aid, hauling her up off the ground and helping her into the station. Octavia just shut her eyes and let tears flow down her cheeks. Aerrow was right. She wasn't good enough. She would never be good enough.

…

A loud roar drew Clarke from her sleep instantly. She sat up straight away, eyes wide in fright that she was under attack from the demented Gorilla yet again.

"It's ok. You're safe." A voice said from behind her. Lexa's.

Clarke flicked her eyes between Lexa and the direction the roars were coming from, as memories of the terrible events of the previous day flashed through her mind. Willis… Quint… the Pauna… and finally… Aerrow. She looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen. Then she remembered how he had vanished the previous night. It was likely she would never see him again. She wondered how had he known she was there in the first place? She thought back to her hallucinations, of how she had seen him watching her. She realised that they hadn't been hallucinations at all. He _had _been watching her the entire time. That begged another question though: when – and how – had he become a part of a group of deadly assassins?

"We should go." She said to Lexa. "That cage won't hold forever."

She got to her feet and rounded a large tree, and stopped dead in her tracks. He was there. Waiting for her.

He made no movement, just stared at her. His hood and facemask were off, and his black eye-paint had been washed off, so she could see him properly for the first time. Even though it had only been a week or so since she had last seen him, he looked impossibly different. His facial features seemed harder, more angular, and his eyes now had a laser-focussed coolness about them. The semi-circle of acid scarring around his left eye now bore a series of small, black tattoo's in the shape of x's, while underneath his right eye ran two, thin, parallel lines, going horizontally just under the eye. The slight redness around them indicated the tattoos were recent. His hair was still long and messy, now reaching down past the base of his neck, but the yellow feather was still missing from his tight braid, indicating he hadn't found his reptilian companion. Most apparent of all though, was the overwhelming look of calm in his posture. He stood lightly, weight evenly balanced on both feet, and his shoulders were held high and straight, not hunched up with tension as they used to be. His hair hung loosely around his head, with a few strands falling in front of him. He was a total picture of calm and relaxation in his entirety. Like someone who was finally happy with themselves.

He did not say anything. He waited for her to speak, but she had no idea what to say. There were a million questions racing through her head, and she couldn't possibly decide where to start.

"How?" was all she was able to get out.

His eyes flickered for a moment, and he paused before answering simply: "That's for me to know." His voice had changed too. It was quieter, but firmer and more confident, with no trace of the pain and guilt it had been filled with previously.

"What happened?" Clarke continued, ignoring his cryptic answer. "After the duel. Where did you go? How did you end up like… this?" she gestured to his jet black clothing and sleek body armour.

Aerrow kept his eyes locked on hers, unwavering. "After the duel, I left everything of myself behind. I walked into the forest to start over. I met a man named Sai. He gave me a new life."

Clarke stared at him with hard eyes. "Lexa says you're a Qinta now, part of a group of cold-blooded killers. Is that true?"

Aerrow seemed to flinch a little at Lexa's name, and looked down ever so slightly at Clarke's description of his new family, but quickly regained his composure. "We call ourselves the Panther Cult. The 'Shadow Warriors'." He said quietly, "Every one of us was once lost, aimless. The Qintagave us direction again."

"By turning you into assassins?" Clarke's voice was hard and icy.

Aerrow smiled ruefully. "Do not believe everything you hear" he said calmly. "We are not killers."

"Then what are you?"

Aerrow hesitated slightly, unsure of how much he should reveal to her. "We exist separately from the other clans, acting off our own code. We live together, we fight together, and we die together. We have no leader, we are individual parts of a single, cohesive unit, acting as one to achieve our goal."

"And what goal is that?" Clarke's voice had been one of mistrust the entire time. Her mind didn't know whether to believe Aerrow or Lexa, or neither.

Aerrow paused, looked her dead in the eye and took a deep breath. "Survival." He stated simply, "Of our brethren. Our cult is one of only the most skilful warriors, those that have no cause to fight for. Sai took me in, taught me their ways, made me a part of the cult."

Clarke stared at him long and hard. "Then why did you come back?"

Aerrow held his gaze, and was silent for a long time before answering quietly. "You were in danger."

Clarke froze at his words. She realised the intent behind them. She knew then that he _still_ had feelings for her. Then her eyes hardened. She felt a dull anger rising inside her, anger at him, at how he constantly came back into her life, and caused her to develop the feelings of love that had ruined her life. Why couldn't he have just stayed dead?

She slowly walked up to him, her face set in stone. "I'm going to say this once, Aerrow" she told him, ice in her voice. "Stay away from me. I have no interest in you or your new life. I don't love you. _Love is weakness_. You taught me that."

Aerrow paused, obviously surprised by her reaction. She did not plan on staying around, waiting for him to answer. She turned around to leave, but then Aerrow called out. "Clarke listen to me." She couldn't help but stop and turn around. "Our friends are still inside Mount Weather." he continued, "I can help you get them out."

Clarke narrowed her eyes at him in anger. She recalled how she herself had told Lexa that the Qinta could help them, through Aerrow, but now, standing in front of him, staring at him, that idea couldn't possibly have sounded more wrong. "Stay with your Qinta." Clarke said flatly, "Because I don't need your help."

Aerrow just stood there, frozen, staring at her. His eyes revealed nothing about how he was feeling. "When you need me, you know where to find me." Was all he said, before turning on his heel and vanishing back into the forest.

Clarke clenched her fist as she watched him go. She had _needed _to say that, in order to keep him out of her life and keep her emotions buried. She turned around and found herself face to face with Lexa. The Commander said nothing, she just stared at her, yet Clarke could see the contented look in Lexa's eyes. Clarke herself now knew she showed no weakness. She was ready to be a leader. She was ready to take Mount Weather. She smiled.

**So then… this makes things interesting… Aerrow's really going to have to work hard if he wants to regain Clarke's respect…**

**And for those wondering: yes, Octavia's fight scene is absolutely relevant to the story. You will see why later on.**


	30. Chapter 30

**At last! We get to find out how Aerrow survived, and how he joined the Qinta, as well as many, many other things…**

It was funny, really, to think he was only alive because of Alexis. Or, more specifically, what Alexis told him.

_FLASHBACK_

_"That stuff you injected me with. What was that?" Aerrow asked._

_Alexis reached into a pocket in her pants. She pulled out a small tube. Inside the tube were several small, dark blue pills. She held the tube casually in front of her. "A liquid version of a drug called DM13." She told him._

"_DM13?"_

"_It means 'Death Mimic'" she answered for him "we developed it as a tranquiliser for the outsiders. It is a sedative but it also hyper oxygenates the blood, slowing a person's heart and breathing rate to 1 a minute, hence mimicking death."_

…

_Amidst the pitch black, lying against Alexis, Aerrow stirred. His eyes shot open, instantly focussed._

_Being especially careful not to wake Alexis, He quickly got dressed and stowed his swords in their holsters on his back._

_He shifted through Alexis's belongings. He grabbed her keycard, a few smoke grenades and shuriken throwing stars, and finally, the tube containing the DM13 pills._

_And then he silently stood up and headed for the door. Before he left, he turned back to look at Alexis one more time. He looked at her through narrowed eyes, then sarcastically blew her a kiss and shut the door._

…

"_Do it." Aerrow whispered to Clarke, reaching up to stroke her face as he lay bleeding out on the ground._

_As Clarke drove her small knife into his chest he sucked his breath in, positioning his chest so the blade avoided his heart. Then he secretly pulled out one of the DM13 pills and swallowed it. A mere 30 seconds later, he breathed his last in Clarke's arms, dead to all intents and purposes_

…

_Thirty minutes later, Aerrow came to, to discover he was being wrapped up in tree bark. Why that was he did not know. The grounder who was wrapping him froze in shock when he sat up. He quickly grabbed the grounder's sword and killed the man with it, before putting on the dead grounder's clothes and wrapping the dead body in the bark instead. Then he disappeared into the night, never to be seen again._

…

It had been his plan the whole time, from the moment the grounders declared that peace would only come from his death. It was his perfect way to escape. He could create the much needed truce between the grounders and the Sky people, and with everyone thinking he was dead, he could finally get away from everything and start a new life someplace elsewhere. He had found that new life the moment he met Sai Rakira...

Indeed, the only way for him to survive, had been to die.

…

Aerrow smiled wryly at that thought as he moved through the trees at a steady, confident pace. He forced himself to keep looking ahead of him, and not to turn around to look back at Clarke. He was not that person anymore. The Qinta had taught him to be better than that.

In reality, the Qinta had been his salvation. He had no idea where he would be at the moment if he had not met Sai, had not been taken in, had not been reborn. He would more than likely be dead somewhere, if his last experience trying to leave everything behind was anything to go by.

As he walked, he found himself instinctively glancing down to his side, only to remember that his Lace Monitor was no longer running by his side. A certain dull sadness filled him. The two of them had been through so much together, and both had saved each other's lives on several occasions. What's more, Aerrow felt like he had forged a genuine bond with the reptile. The two somehow seemed to share a mutual understanding. It was silly, but Aerrow was more comfortable around the Lizard than any people he knew – Clarke included – because the Lizard did not possess any judgements of him, did not tell him how he should act or feel, and Aerrow could just act on his own accord and be himself. Cleo had in many ways been his closest friend, but that was the price of a new life: cutting all ties with his old one.

He stopped at a small pool of water and, after making sure no one was around to see him, removed his hood and facemask. He knelt down beside the pool of water and just stared ahead, thinking. Despite his refusal to look back, or outwardly admit his feelings, Clarke's words still rang inside his head. She had totally surprised him. It was the harshness of her voice, it was cold as ice. He didn't think her capable of such a tone. He thought back to when he had allowed her so see him in Tondc, before he had met the Qinta. She thought she had been hallucinating, but it had really been him. He remembered her saying then how "love is weakness". It was a sad irony how she had thrown his own words back in his face.

He had not known how his 'death' would affect Clarke, but he did not expect her to react this way, with such hostility, and he wondered how much influence Lexa had had on her. He thought hard about that. He definitely had to be wary of Lexa. The Commander had her own agenda. Sure, she wanted to get her people out of Mount Weather, but after the short time he had spent one on one with her, as well as the distant observations he had made since his 'death', he strongly suspected that she had ideas after that, and he wondered how many of those plans involved Clarke. The Commander had a strange interest in her, but Clarke seemed blind to it. Aerrow was not going to intervene, obeying the strict code of the Qinta, but he was definitely going to keep a close eye on the Commander, and trust that Clarke knew what she was doing and would be able to make the right choices. He knew it would only be a matter of time before Clarke came searching for him, in need of his help. He knew, eventually, she would come back to him.

He gazed down at the pool of water, at his reflection. The face he saw staring back at him, while different in appearance, was strangely familiar. He no longer saw any traces of pain in his features, nor thought of the person staring back at him as some sort of monster. For the first time in a long time, the face staring back at him was totally, inherently _his._ He rejoiced in the new found peace in his life and inside himself. He had Sai Rakteer and the Qinta to thank for that.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Love is weakness." Clarke hissed at him over the roar of the burning funeral pyre. Initially, he was surprised at first by the hostility and iciness in her voice, but then he turned around in resignation, and walked away. _

_He had no reason to judge Clarke for her reaction following his death. He had put her in that position, he had caused her all that grief. She had every right to feel however she wanted. And this time, he was not going to try and change that. No, this time, he was going to walk away for good._

_He forced himself not to look back as he walked through the woods. As he walked, mentally, he cut all ties with the people he left behind. Clarke… Bellamy… Octavia… even Cleo. All of them were purged from his memories, left behind in the past. _

_He had no idea where he was going to go, but he didn't care. He just knew that finally, he had the chance to forget his old life, forget the killer he had become, and start over somewhere._

_Night fell yet still he did not stop moving. He wanted only to get as far away from Clarke and the others as possible. Suddenly, he heard the faint whistle of something moving through the air. He ducked instinctively, just in time, as a small and wickedly sharp blade whistled over his head, continuing on and slicing right through a small tree just in front of him. _

_Aerrow froze instantly. He had no idea who had thrown the blade. He was about to break into a sprint when a figure dressed entirely in black dropped down in front of him, landing lightly on his feet, barely making a sound. Aerrow froze instantly. The figure wore over his black clothing some high tech looking grey body armour, with a hood and a half facemask, covering his mouth and his nose, but leaving his eyes exposed, which were instead concealed with black paint. Because of the body armour, Aerrow's first thought was that the figure was someone from Mount Weather, but quickly realised that no one from the Mountain dressed like that, nor wore such high-tech armour, not even Alexis. This was someone else, and whoever they were, they were highly skilled. He hadn't even known they were there until moments ago._

_He had no time to react as, in the blink of an eye, the figure whipped a thin bladed, dead straight sword from a holster and pressed it against his throat. Aerrow made no move, for he knew that any attempt to escape would surely mean his death._

_The figure spoke something in an unfamiliar language. It was not the same as the language spoken by the grounders, it was slightly different, with less harsh sounds and smoother pronunciation. When Aerrow gave no reaction, the figure switched to English. "Why do you tread on this soil?" they hissed. It was a man's voice, low and guttural._

_Aerrow remained motionless. He kept his eyes hard as he stared directly into the other man's eyes. "I seek neither peace, nor war." He said slowly, but firmly. "Only survival."_

_If Aerrow had been able to see the others man's mouth, he would have seen a wry grin from in the corner of his mouth. "We shall see." The masked man said, before drawing his sword back to strike._

_Quick as a flash, Aerrow's hands went to his own swords, and he pulled them from their holsters and down in front of his just in time to block what would have been a killing swing. His attacker wasted no time in withdrawing his blade, whirling around and swinging again, this time Aerrow ducked and crouch-rolled out of the way. He had barely got on his feet when his attacker was on him again._

_This was like no fight Aerrow had ever been in. It was fast, almost too fast for him to register. That it was night time did not help things. Although his night vision had kicked in, Aerrow found himself relying on the faint glints of his attacker's sword as moonlight reflected off it. _

_Aerrow never stopped moving, wielding both his swords with incredible ambidexterity. His attacker though was just something else, just as skilled if not more skilled than Alexis. Aerrow was fairly sure it was only the lingering hyper-oxygenation of his blood from the DM-13 that had allowed him to keep going this long. It was a losing battle though, and eventually, in a lighting fast move, his attacker jammed his swords between Aerrow's and disarmed the teenager with an effortless flick of his wrist. Momentarily surprised by the move, Aerrow instantly found himself grabbed by the throat and pressed back against a tree._

_Aerrow struggled against the man's grip, but it was no use, the hand around his throat held its iron grip. Desperately, Aerrow looked around him for something… anything…_

_And then he saw it._

_One of his swords was lying across his foot. Aerrow brought his eyes to the high-tech metal forearm guard worm by his attacker. The metal looked like…_

_There was no time to finish the thought. Hoping to god he had recognised correctly, he flicked his sword up with his foot, snatched it in mid-air and sliced it across the forearm guard, while at the same time squeezing his eyes tightly shut. _

_His attacker did not shut his eyes, and paid the price. As soon as Aerrow's sword slid across the forearm guard, a blinding white light was produced. Against the black of the night, the sudden flash of light momentarily blinded Aerrow's attacker, and he recoiled in pain._

_Aerrow moved instantly. He span around and kicked the man's sword out of his hand, before completing the spin and delivering another kick to the man's chest, sending him to the ground before finally, crouching down on one knee, with his other foot on the man's chest, his sword pointed directly at his throat._

_It was the forearm guard. The shiny metal forearm guard made of – as Aerrow guessed correctly – Magnesium. A lightweight metal known for the brilliant light it produces when struck by another metal. Apparently, Aerrow's Coandite swords worked too. As such, the dazzling sparks produced by the Coandite dragging over the Magnesium had been enough to momentarily blind Aerrow's attacker._

_Aerrow held his sword where it was as the man stared calmly back at him, having regained his eye-sight. He had a strange expression on his face. It was almost as if he was… well… waiting for Aerrow to do something._

_Aerrow himself was debating what to do. He was very tempted to deliver a killing strike right there, given how ferociously the man had attacked him, but then he spotted something else. The man's other hand, his sword hand, had no such forearm guard. That was strange. Aerrow had read how medieval knights had used wrist guards on their sword hands, but never on the other wrist, so that this man had his forearm guard on the opposite wrist was perplexing._

_Stranger still, it seemed to be the only component of his armour that was made of magnesium, the rest looked to be an entirely different compound that Aerrow had no idea of what it could be made of. Aerrow suddenly began to wonder if the man _wanted _him to see the magnesium, and act the way he did._

_His curiosity out-weighing his caution, Aerrow withdrew his sword and stood up, waiting for the man's next move. He was very confused then, when the man started _laughing.

_Aerrow narrowed his eyes as the man stood up. As he did so, he flipped back his hood and pulled down his face mask, revealing a heavily tanned face – not unlike that of almost all of the grounders – but with a series of small tattooed crosses in the shape of x's running down the entire right side of his face._

_Aerrow said nothing as the man faced him. His face was still hard, but the hostility was gone. "You fight well." The man spoke "You fight with both body and mind, but, most of all: heart."_

_Aerrow remained silent, wondering where the man was going with his. He reached down and gently picked Aerrow's second sword off the ground, and held it out to him. "My name is Sai Rakira." He said_

"_Aerrow Eroxin"_

_The man – Sai - narrowed his eyes at him. "We know who you are, Aerrow." He said in a low voice, "We have been watching you for a long time."_

_Aerrow cocked his head slightly. "We?"_

_Sai paused for a long moment, before eventually speaking. "I am a member of a group of warriors called the Qinta." He said, "Our brethren is one of exiled warriors, just like yourself. We act as one. Individual parts of a cohesive body, seeking our goal: survival, just as you do."_

_Aerrow was still silent._

"_Our meeting tonight was not an accident, Aerrow." Sai went on, "You were meant to be here, and so was I."_

"_Why are you telling me this?" Aerrow finally spoke._

"_I come before you tonight because I want you to join me. Become a fellow Qinta." Sai paused, letting Aerrow soak in this information. "Every one of us was once just like you: lost, and alone." Sai said, "Let us help you, as we ourselves were once given help. Let us give you the new life you desire."_

_Aerrow was momentarily shocked, he had no idea what to say. He stared at Sai, blank faced, trying to make up his mind. Did he join this group of warriors that he had never heard of before, or did he continue on his own path, seeking out a future on his own. Even he didn't know. But then he saw something in Sai's eyes, something that he somehow knew could be trusted. He briefly thought back to memories of Clarke and the Sky-people. Painful memories. Then he purged them from his mind._

"_Ok." He said._

…

_Aerrow's transformation was fast. He was very quickly accepted into the ranks of the Qinta by virtue of his fighting skills alone. He was given his own series of tattoo's, a series of x's on the acid scarring around his left eye, and two parallel lines underneath his other, along with his own set of clothes, complete with the same high-tech armour. Finally, his swords were dipped in a melted version of the same metal that made up the armour, covering the shiny silver coandite with a jet black coat of armour._

_His transformation was complete._

…

The memories faded from Aerrow's mind as he walked back through the gates of his new home, located in the centre of a circular rock formation – creating a natural fortress about 50 metres across, in which there was only one way through: a small, narrow archway the size of a man. The entire outcrop was disguised on the outside by thick vines. No one had ever discovered the fortress on their own.

His fellow Qinta marched over as Aerrow entered the fortress.

"Brother" Sai called out in the Qinta's own, modified version of the grounder's language, which Aerrow now knew to be called trigedasleng. "how goes your cause?"

Aerrow stopped in front of his new friend – and, in many ways, mentor. "She renounces me, and refuses my help" he replied, speaking the language perfectly. "The Trikru Commander has strong influence over her." He kept his eyes hard as he said it, refusing to betray his emotions. "But she will come to me. Eventually."

Sai stared back, emotionlessly, before saying "I'm afraid you have a much bigger problem, my friend." Aerrow noted carefully the grim tone of Sai's voice, along with the extreme edginess of his fellow Qinta warriors.

"What's going on?" Aerrow asked. Sai simply turned around and said "Come with me."

He led Aerrow into the carved stone building at the very centre of the fortress. Inside the building, bruised and bloodied from heavy beatings, was a man dressed in a protective suit. A Mountain Man.

Aerrow looked up at Sai in shock. "They found us?" he said carefully.

Sai shook his head. "No, just him. He said he would only speak to you."

"Me?" Aerrow exclaimed in surprise. Sai nodded. Aerrow held his gaze for a moment, then his eyes hardened as he turned to face the beaten man.

"Who are you?" He growled, voice suddenly cold as ice. When the man didn't immediately answer, Aerrow drew one of his swords and made to slice open the man's suit, knowing he would be killed in minutes by radiation.

"I am not from Mount Weather" the man said suddenly, surprisingly calmly. Aerrow froze. "Where are you from then?" he demanded

The man said nothing.

"What do you want with me?" Aerrow shouted, bringing his sword down.

"We don't want anything with you." The man spat, glaring at him. "We simply want _you._

Aerrow froze. "Who's 'we'?" He asked cautiously.

The man chuckled, amused by Aerrow's confusion and surprise. "You know who we are." He sneered. Then his eyes narrowed as he whispered it. "Oblivion."

On hearing that one word, Aerrow's blood instantly turned to ice. The same name that Dylan had said before he died. Without saying another word, Aerrow forcefully plunged his sword into the man's chest. He quickly withdrew the sword and turned to walk away.

"You can run all you want." The dying man wheezed from behind him. "We will find you. We need you." He paused. "_Subject Alpha_." And then, with one last wheezing cough, the man went limp. Dead.

Aerrow kept his back turned but he had heard every word. The gathered Qinta warriors eyed him carefully. Even they, with all their stealth, knew nothing of what the man had just said. Aerrow squeezed his eyes tightly shut and took long, deep breaths.

His mind raced with this new information. What was Oblivion? What was Subject Alpha? Why was he needed in all this? He needed answers now more than ever.

"Brother?" Sai said cautiously.

"You were right." Aerrow said quietly, before turning around to face the others. "We have a far bigger problem than my crusade."

"What is this Oblivion, he speaks of?"

"I do not know." Aerrow said evenly, "But we must be careful, for we know better than anyone that when you travel the woods, you must be lucky to avoid the Wolf every time, but the Wolf only needs enough luck to find you once."

With that, Aerrow quickly flipped his hood back up and left the compound once more, completely unaware of the message that had been sent out just 24 hours previously.

…

_In the darkened room underneath Mount Weather, a screen beeped. The old man with the gold rimmed glasses turned to face the screen in question. Even he couldn't hide the evil delight that washed across his face._

_The DNA results were finally back._

_Aerrow Eroxin was subject Alpha._

_The man smiled as he began typing a message. It was inconvenient that the boy had escaped the mountain, but that issue would soon be rectified. The man finished typing his message and sent it._

'_Attention all Oblivion agents. DNA testing confirms Aerrow Eroxin as Subject Alpha. All agents are to dispatch immediately to capture Eroxin, and bring him in. it is imperative that he be kept ALIVE. My friends, we are so close. It is almost time.'_

**This is another really important chapter. From here, things are going to start building to a conclusion. This story has taken a long time to get to this point, but now everything is starting to come together… Stay tuned for more.**


	31. Chapter 31

The sound of the horse's hooves against the ground was almost rhythmic as Clarke rode back towards Camp Jaha. She was returning from Tondc, having finished constructing her plan to use Bellamy to free the grounder prisoners within Mount Weather and take the Mountain from the inside. She and Lexa had deliberated tirelessly, outlining the plan to the other generals, who eventually came to some sort of agreement, and now Clarke was headed back to Camp Jaha to inform the Sky people of the plan, and to make sure Bellamy had made it inside successfully.

As she rode, her face was set in concrete, stubbornly trying to block out all thoughts of what had happened in that forest. She had told Aerrow she didn't need his help, and to stay away from her, but she couldn't convince herself that she meant it. She couldn't convince herself she didn't still have feelings for him.

In the past week or so, she had been given no time at all to take a step back and gather her thoughts properly. Losing Aerrow, almost being killed by a mutant Gorilla, Aerrow re-appearing, finding out he was now a member of a group of assassins. Everything was moving too fast for her to process. She was desperately tired, worn down both physically and mentally, but the thoughts of her friends being trapped inside that Mountain kept her going.

After several hours of riding, Abby halted the group at a pool of water.

"Mom, why are we stopping?" Clarke said tiredly as she dismounted. She was tired beyond belief and just wanted to get back to the camp.

"You need to drink." Abby said, handing her a canteen of water.

"I'm fine." She lied. "We're almost home. We're wasting time here. Mount up." She told the rest of the group, before moving to get back on her own horse.

"Clarke." Abby called behind her. With a frustrated huff, Clarke turned back around and walked up to her mother. "I need to get back to the radio to see if Bellamy's made contact." She stated.

"Listen to me." Abby said sternly, "I know you don't think you need my protection anymore, but you do." Clarke just stared at Abby, making no movement. "You have to trust that I know what's best for us." Abby told her. Subconsciously, Clarke ground her jaw, trying to hide her frustration. On top of everything else, she was really starting to get annoyed by Abby's overprotectiveness. She had survived down on the ground just fine on her own, and had proven on many occasions to have made better decisions than Abby regarding the alliance with the grounders. Maybe that resentment was why she hadn't told her mother that Aerrow was, in fact, still alive. Then again, she hadn't exactly told anyone. Not even she and Lexa had spoken of him. Clarke was determined to convince herself that he was still dead.

Clarke turned away from Abby and got back on her horse, just as a gunshot rang out, and the grounder behind Clarke dropped from his own horse, having been hit square in the chest. Every member of their group turned in shock to see the fallen grounder. They all knew what that meant. "Mountain Men." Clarke breathed, before spurring her horse and taking off down the road in the direction the gunshot had come from, leaving Abby to take care of the shot grounder.

Clarke arrived on the scene to see Octavia standing behind a kneeling Mountain Man, pressing a sword against the man's neck. A sharp hiss of escaping air could be heard - at some point the man's protective suit had been sliced open. The man was frantically trying to seal the tear in his suit but Octavia held tight in her grip of him. Clarke paused for a moment just to look at Octavia. While Clarke had been in Tondc, Octavia had become Indra's second, and her transformation had been even more extreme that Aerrow's. She now had her hair braided tightly and her face was covered in black face paint. This combined with the viscous scowl on her face, she really did look very intimidating.

"Finish it!" Indra commanded. For a moment, Clarke was prepared to let Octavia slice the Mountain Man's throat, given what they had been doing to her friends, but then she got an idea. "Octavia, wait!" She shouted as she rode up. Octavia whirled around and looked at her questioningly, but Clarke told her "he's from Mount Weather, we need to keep him alive!"

Octavia hesitated but then she realised what Clarke was talking about. He had information on what was happening to their friends, as well as how they could be freed. Such valuable information was no use to them if the person who held it was dead. She shoved the man to the ground and began searching his suit for a patch kit, but she found something else instead.

"Clarke" she said, walking towards the blonde with a piece of paper in her hands.

"What is that?"

"You and Lexa were the targets." Octavia said grimly, showing Clarke what she had found: a picture of Clarke and Lexa, both of them circled. Staring at the picture, Clarke suddenly felt a whole new wave of unease shoot through her. The entire time, she had been well aware of the threat that Mount Weather posed, but she never thought they would specifically target _her_. She suddenly felt very isolated and vulnerable. _Alone._ Maybe her mother had been right all along.

…

The incapacitated Mountain Man as well as the shot grounder were quickly brought into the crashed station at Camp Jaha, where Abby and her assistant, Jackson, quickly set about treating their respective injuries.

"This guy is from Mount Weather, we have to keep him alive!" Clarke told Jackson as he examined the unconscious man.

At that moment, Raven walked in to the room to see what all the fuss was about. Clarke immediately asked her if she had heard anything from Bellamy, to which Raven replied that she hadn't. "Then why aren't you at the radio?" Clarke demanded.

"Octavia just took my place so how about you back off!" The fiery mechanic shot back. Clarke did indeed take a step back, shocked by her own tone of voice more than anything else. She even remembered telling Octavia to take over the radio only minutes ago. Her outburst at Raven only served to add to her building stress. It was all becoming too much.

She heard Abby shout from across the room that she needed blood to give to the dying grounder if he had any chance of staying alive. Clarke rushed over just as the grounder exhaled deeply, then fell limp. Clarke could only close her eyes and sigh in disdain. Yet another life she wasn't able to save. Indra slowly walked over and cut a braid of the dead man's hair off, uttering "_Your fight is over" _in trigedasleng. She then turned and advanced slowly towards Clarke, ice in her eyes.

"A killer lives, while a warrior dies… this is your way." Indra said quietly, yet fiercely. Clarke had no response. She wanted to be able to say something, but her mouth refused to work. She knew what Indra said was true, it was their way – _her way _– to try and save everyone. But lately it seemed like she couldn't, and it was starting to eat away at her conscience. She didn't know what 'her way' was anymore. Her only thought was to get her friends out of Mount Weather.

"I'm sorry, Indra," she was finally able to say. "But he can help us beat Mount Weather."

"Then let me make him talk." Indra replied slowly. Menacingly.

"No." Clarke said, shaking her head. "We're not torturing him."

"Clarke's right." Abby joined in, walking over. "He might just talk because we saved his life."

"You people are so weak." Indra muttered angrily as she walked off. Clarke could only close her eyes and turn away, focussing her eyes instead on the Mountain Man, trying to take her mind off her whirling thoughts and emotions.

"Are you ok?" her mother asked gently.

Clarke clenched her jaw and hardened her eyes, determined to keep her emotions hidden. She did not want her mother to know anything about what happened in that forest. Because if someone else knew, then it really would have happened, and Aerrow really would still be alive.

"He's going to need a transfusion, with our blood." She said, deliberately avoiding the question.

Abby put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Someone tried to kill you today, its ok if you're upset." She said softly.

Clarke simply looked down at the ground, before forcing herself to look at her mother. "Just another day on the ground." She replied, before saying "I'll be in engineering waiting for Bellamy to radio. Let me know if he wakes up."

She then turned and walked out of the room, not giving Abby a chance to say or do anything else. She just wanted to escape from all this even for just one minute. She just wanted to be alone. She couldn't afford to let the others, especially the grounders, see her like this. Because, deep down in her heart, the assassination attempt had chilled her to her core.

…

"Carl Emerson. Mount Weather Security Detail." The Mountain Man drawled blankly for the tenth time. Raven had managed to repurpose an airlock in the station to convert it into a radiation free holding cell for Emerson. Unfortunately, he had been less than forthcoming with information about the Mountain he came from.

"He's not going to talk." Clarke told Kane, who had been interrogating Emerson.

"He will if we open the door." Kane said quietly. Emerson immediately stiffened, but then Abby stepped forward and switched off the control panel, preventing Kane from opening the door. "We are not doing that!" Abby stated firmly.

"We need to know what he knows!" Kane countered.

"She's right." Clarke stepped in. "Torture doesn't work."

Abby and Kane argued fiercely over what they believed was the right thing to do, which led to Kane storming off and Abby ordering that Emerson be placed under armed protection 24/7. Clarke just watched the scene in a mix of anger and frustration. After Abby and Kane left, she just stared at Emerson. He stared right back at her, a smug look on his face.

She shook her head in frustration. Why did this have to be so damned difficult?

She decided to busy herself by taking Emerson's tone generator to Raven, in hopes that the mechanic could replicate it and they would be able to neutralise the Reapers. Raven said she could, just as Octavia entered the room, asking if Bellamy had made contact.

"Not yet." Raven said sadly. Clarke visibly saw Octavia deflate. "Lincoln's still missing too." Octavia told Clarke, who had sent Lincoln along with Bellamy, as the grounder knew how to get to the Mountain. "He should be back by now!" Octavia said in distress.

"They'll be ok." Clarke tried to reassure Octavia. The girl had gone through a lot. She had lost Aerrow, who she had looked up to and idolised to an extent, and now there was the possibility that she had lost her brother and Lincoln too.

"They better be." Raven said blankly. Both Clarke and Octavia turned to look at her. They were all thinking the same thing. As each hour passed with no word from Bellamy, there was the stronger possibility that he had been killed, something which could not happen, as Bellamy was integral to their entire plan. If he died, then so did their chances of rescuing their friends…

As much as she was trying to reassure Octavia, Clarke felt like she was trying to reassure herself more than anything else. She _needed _Bellamy to be alive. If he had indeed been killed… she would never forgive herself for sending him off to die.

It was at that moment though, that a call came over the radio that Clarke was needed at the airlock. Hoping for some good news for a change, Clarke hurried out of the room.

…

"Did he say something?" Kane asked, just as Clarke arrived.

"No." Abby replied, "But his blood did."

Clarke felt a bolt of ice shoot down her spine.

"Jackson found genetic marker anomalies that could only have come from someone born on the Ark."

"It's started." Clarke said in horror. "They're bleeding my friends."

"We don't know that." Kane told her

"Yes we do!" Clarke shot back, "We were genetically engineered, they weren't!"

Clarke pictured her friends, Jasper, Monty, Miller, and all the others, hanging upside down as their very blood was drained from them, just so people like Emerson could stay alive in a world they weren't meant to live in. And then she felt the anger. Raw, pure hatred rising up from deep within her. Hatred at Emerson and his people for what they were doing. She immediately moved towards the control panel.

"What are you doing?" Kane asked, stepping in front of her.

"Killing him." Clarke said simply. She went to hit the button to open the airlock, but Kane held her back. She quickly threw him off and told him to get out of her way, but he and Abby stood firm in front of her, blocking her.

"Clarke. You are not in charge here." Abby said sternly. "We do things my way."

Clarke was about ready to scream at her mother, but instead held herself back to just glaring at Abby before turning and walking away as quickly as she could, back to the radio room.

"We're too late. They're already bleeding them." Clarke told Raven as she walked in. Raven turned around and looked at her, wide eyed. "It's over." Clarke said in resigned dejection.

"No." Raven said firmly as she stood up. "No, you don't get to give up Clarke!" she said angrily, "Finn died, you killed Aerrow and I didn't give up! I'm building a damn tone generator, you do your job!"

"What is my job?" Clarke shouted back.

"I don't know! To come up with something!"

"I have tried!" Clarke screamed, finally snapping. "I've tried and I've tried and I've tried!" she could feel tears starting to roll down her cheeks as she let out the anger and the stress that had been steadily building up over the past few days. "Nothing's worked!" she paused "I failed…"

Silence filled the room, but then the radio crackled to life. "_Camp Jaha, can anyone read me_?" Bellamy's voice spoke through the radio.

"Holy crap…" Raven breathed. Clarke's tears instantly dried up as a new hope filled her. She rushed over and grabbed the radio. "Bellamy?" she spoke hopefully

"_Clarke?"_ Came the response. Clarke breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"_I'm fine_," he replied, "_but we have to move quickly, something has changed. Jasper, Monty, they've all been locked in a dorm."_

"But they're alive? All of them" Clarke didn't want to ask, but she had to know.

"_I think so, for now. But Clarke, they're already using their blood and things are going to get ugly in here real fast."_

Clarke closed her eyes. Her worst fears were being realised.

"_And Clarke_," Bellamy continued, "_There are kids in here. We need a plan that doesn't kill everyone. Please tell me we have one."_

"I hear you." Clarke replied. "But we can't do anything until you disable the acid fog."

"_Got it. What else?"_

Clarke took a deep breath, before outlining her plan. "You have to figure out a way to free the grounder prisoners." She told him, "There's a whole army inside that Mountain and they don't even know it."

"_Trojan Horse. Good plan_." Bellamy said. "_Clarke I need you to buy me some time. It won't be long before they realise that I don't belong here and if that happens_-"

"That can't happen!" Clarke interrupted, "I'll come up with something."

"_Come up with it quick_."

"Copy that." Clarke said, just as an idea started forming in her head. This entire time, she had been reacting to what she had found out about Mount Weather. Now she was getting proactive, coming up with ideas of her own. She said her goodbyes to Bellamy and then handed the radio to Raven, before making to leave the room.

"What are you going to do?" Raven asked her.

"Keep them looking outside instead of in." Clarke replied, before walking out the door.

As she walked, she kept a grim face. If her plan was going to work, she was going to need help. And as much as she didn't want it to come to this, she knew where to find it.

…

As the sun began to set, Clarke finally found the entrance.

She shimmied her way down the tunnel until she emerged in a fire-lit cavern. Clarke paused for a moment to take in her surroundings. She gulped slightly at the thought of what she was about to do.

"I need your help." She said simply.

At the far end of the cavern, the figure standing motionlessly in front of the fire turned around to face her. She looked him dead in the eye: Aerrow Eroxin.

…

Clarke and Aerrow walked side by side, striding confidently through the halls of the station. Following behind them were Octavia, Indra and several other grounders. They were headed for one place and one place only: Carl Emerson's airlock.

The guard stationed there tried to stop them but was quickly immobilised by and effortless yet non-lethal attack by Aerrow. The group came to a halt in front of the airlock, in which Emerson had quickly gotten to his feet.

"Get dressed, you're coming with us." Clarke told him simply.

A short time later, the group strode out of the station, to the gasps of the Sky people as they discovered that Aerrow was somehow still alive. Kane and Abby were quick to notice and stood in front of them, blocking their path towards the gate.

"Clarke, what are you doing?" Kane asked in shock, before looking at Aerrow "And how are you alive?"

Aerrow said nothing. He simply glared back at Kane through narrowed eyes.

"I'm letting the prisoner go." Clarke told Kane and Abby.

"Absolutely not!" Abby replied. "He hasn't told us anything." Kane added.

"He doesn't have to." Clarke said, "He's going to tell them something."

Abby stared at her daughter and the resurrected warrior standing beside her, and for the briefest moment Clarke saw a spark of fire ignite in her eyes, but then she turned to the guards standing behind her. "Get the prisoner back to the air lock now." She told them.

The guards made to move forward, only for Aerrow to slowly and coldly draw one of his swords and hold it against the neck of the closest guard. The grounders too, drew their weapons. The guards stood back and gripped their guns uneasily, while Abby and Kane weren't able to hide their surprise. Clarke stood dead still the entire time. "You may be the chancellor, but I'm in charge." She said, deadpan.

Abby glared at Clarke, but Clarke glared right back at her. "Indra, tell your people to stand down, before this gets out of hand" Abby threatened.

"No." Indra growled, unfazed.

It was a tense stand off between the grounders and the guards.

"People will get hurt." Abby told Clarke.

"Not if you get out of our way." Aerrow spoke coldly.

Clarke stepped forward. "You need to trust that I know what's best for us." She said, throwing her mother's words right back at her. Abby stared blankly at Clarke, not giving anything away.

"The grounders trust Clarke." Kane whispered, "Maybe we should too."

Abby stared at Clarke for what felt like an eternity, before eventually she turned to the guards and told them to stand down. Clarke said nothing to her mother. She and the others simply walked past and out the gate. Once they were outside, Clarke gave Emerson a message to relay to the rest of mount Weather: that the grounder army was bigger than they could possibly imagine, and how neither the acid fog nor the reapers could hurt them, before giving him the ultimatum that if the Mountain let its captives go, they would be allowed to live.

Her message given, Emerson turned and began the long walk back to Mount Weather.

Once he disappeared, Aerrow turned around to see everyone's eyes on him. He had not been sure what to expect, coming back like this, but he had not expected a warm welcome from the grounders. It surprised him then, to look at them and see not anger in their eyes, but shock and… admiration?

They spoke amongst themselves in hushed whispers, before Indra stepped forward.

"_Immortau."_ She spoke.

Immortal.

The grounders then turned and walked back into the camp, leaving just Octavia, Clarke and Aerrow.

"What was that about?" Clarke asked cautiously.

"They believe in resurrection." Octavia and Aerrow spoke at the same time. Aerrow continued "When someone dies and comes back to life, they believe that person to be unworthy of death, and as such they withdraw all feelings of hostility towards that person. I have nothing to fear from the grounders, just as they have nothing to fear from me."

"What happened?" Octavia asked, stepping towards him. "How did you-"

"I don't know." Aerrow told her quietly, deliberately keeping his secret a secret. "All I know is I survived."

Despite her transition into a grounder warrior and the dulling of her emotions, Octavia embraced him in a simple hug, to show that she was glad he was still alive. Unlike the last time, Aerrow returned the embrace. There was nothing romantic to it, just two friends discovering each other again.

Clarke just stood back and watched the exchange. She had not wanted to have to go to Aerrow and ask him to help her, but thinking back now, she realised how much she had needed it. That was all she felt though.

"So what happens now?" She asked when Aerrow and Octavia separated. Aerrow clenched his jaw and fixed her with a deadly serious stare.

"I can't stay here." He told her.

"Why not?" Octavia asked.

"Things have changed." Aerrow said quickly and quietly. "It's not safe for me to be seen here, for me or for you."

"Whats going on?" Clarke asked seriously.

Aerrow turned and looked at her, eyes deadly serious. "I can't say." He said sadly.

Clarke sighed. "Of course you can't. It's you."

Aerrow looked down at the ground guiltily as Clarke advanced towards him. "You haven't changed at all." She said bluntly. "You say you're here to help us yet we barely know who you are, who you've become."

"Clarke-"

"So if you're with us, then be with us!" She told him. She noticed how her voice cracked ever so slightly as she said it. She realised what had caused it. His presence, however short-lived it may have been, had brought strength and hope back into so many people lives, hers included. She had seen the happy gleam return to Octavia's eyes when she first saw Aerrow walk back into the camp, and the new energy surge through Raven. The more she went on without him, the more she realised she needed him in her life. They all did.

"I'm sorry, Clarke." Aerrow said quietly, "But the less you know about me, the better."

He lowered his eyes sadly as he turned around. He gave Octavia a small nod, before vanishing back into the forest. The ghost had departed once more.

**Apologies for the delayed chapter. While quite long, this chapter was necessary in order to put Clarke in a position where she finally had to admit that she needed Aerrow's help. This will be built on in the coming chapters. I'm finally able to focus just on finishing this story, so the final chapters will hopefully be up soon with no more big delays.**


	32. Chapter 32

**There will be several time jumps between now and the end of the story, as I am only going to be covering events in the show that are relevant to the plot of this story, because things will start diverging very soon.**

**Also, I would like to say that at this point in the story, the Mountain men are not taking bone marrow, as that will take place later. Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Tongues of red flames licked the night time sky, bathing the surrounding forest in a sickly orange hue. All around, the crackling sound of burning houses and the wails of dying animals and people could be heard. Covering everything was the intoxicating stench of smoke and death. In the middle of all this mayhem, stood Clarke Griffin.

She saw terrified people scattering, desperately trying to escape the blaze, as trees fell and buildings collapsed around her. She heard the panicked shriek of a horse, and turned to see a beautiful white mare tearing past her. Its entire back was ablaze. Behind it, she saw someone come staggering out of the undergrowth. They were carrying their own severed arm. Clarke watched in horror as the poor person collapsed, dead, just one of many whose lives had just been extinguished. Only one thought was going through her head: _She had done this._

After letting Emerson go, she had returned to Tondc, to finalise plans for the forthcoming assault on Mount Weather, with all the leaders from the '12 clans' – the separate groups of grounders. Things were going well, but then she learnt through Bellamy that Cage – who was now evidently the leader of Mount Weather – was planning on sabotaging the meeting and ending the outsider threat for good by blowing the village up with a missile.

She had gone to Lexa and begged her to cancel the meeting, to evacuate the village, knowing that dozens of innocent people would be killed otherwise, but Lexa had argued that if they evacuated, the Mountain would know that they had a spy – Bellamy – inside their walls. So against all her instincts, Clarke followed Lexa, and the two of them slipped away unknown, leaving the village to be blown up.

And now she was paying the price for it.

She stared in dismay at the chaos around her. All she could think of was the innocent lives, lives that she was supposed to protect, and instead had sacrificed in order to preserve her own life, as well as Bellamy's. Her emotions boiled inside her, tearing her apart. She never wanted this. She was supposed to be better than this. This wasn't who _she _was.

She looked around herself, looking for someone, anyone she knew, but she saw no one. In her mind, she desperately wish for one of her friends to be by her side. Finn… Bellamy… but most of all: Aerrow?

She shocked herself at the thought, that the person she didn't want to be around, she wanted by her side the most. She couldn't even deny herself how badly she wished for him to be by her side at this moment. She needed his strength, his resolve, to keep herself together. _But he wasn't there, _she reminded herself, _because he had left her. Again._

She suddenly found herself being shaken out of her trance by Lexa. She turned around and faced the Commander. "I could have warned them!" she breathed in anguish, "I could have saved them!"

"If they see us, they'll strike again!" Lexa told her firmly, speaking of the Mountain Men, whose target had not been the village itself, but her and Lexa. "Victory stands on the back of sacrifices." Lexa told her, seeing her distress.

Clarke took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. It didn't work. All she felt was mental agony at all the lives she had sacrificed, and the raw, burning anger at the bastards at Mount Weather. "The Mountain Men are going to die! All of them!" she growled at Lexa. Eyes hard, the Commander nodded, then took Clarke's hand and led her away from the carnage.

They had not gone far when a series of gunshots exploded through the air. Clarke knew straight away they had not been fired by the Sky people. The shots were much too loud, and had come from a far more powerful gun. She turned around instantly, and saw the grounders back at the village dropping, having been on the receiving end of the bullets. The other survivors frantically took cover as the gunshots kept coming.

"The spotter." Clarke hissed grimly, realising that someone from the Mountain would have to have been in close proximity to aim the missile, and now they were picking off any survivors. She felt her anger, still burning within her. She clenched her fist and began striding towards where she thought the shots were coming from.

"Clarke wait!" Lexa said, grabbing her arm, "If he's a spotter, he's here to make sure we're dead! If he tells the Mountain we're alive-"

"He won't." Clarke interrupted.

"How can you be sure?"

Clarke stared at Lexa, eyes mean. "Because I'm going to kill him." She stated, voice flat and completely emotionless.

…

Gunshots continued to be fired off at consistent intervals. Clarke flinched at each one, knowing that every bullet fired likely meant one more dead warrior. One more person she could have saved. That thought only fuelled her anger, and made her even more determined to find the shooter.

"It'll be light soon, and we won't have the darkness to hide us." Lexa told her as they moved.

"Neither will he." Clarke replied bluntly.

"I feel your anger, Clarke-"

"Do me a favour: no more lessons." Clarke interrupted again. She was very well aware that it was Lexa's idea in the first place to leave, and sacrifice all those innocent lives.

"You need to focus." Lexa continued anyway, "We do what we must to survive, the enemy does the same. It's not personal."

"It is to me." Clarke was reminded of what she had seen inside that Mountain, and how her friends were now in the exact same position.

"You think that killing the shooter will make you feel better, but it won't. The only thing that will do that is winning this war!" Lexa told her sternly.

"That's enough!" Clarke hissed, whirling around to face Lexa, and then she paused. She realised how tightly her fist was clenched, and she slowly opened her hand again. She was losing control, letting her anger take over her. She _needed_ to hold herself together, but lately, that was becoming all the more impossible to do.

Both women turned when they heard a rustle in the bushes nearby, then the faint footsteps of someone running carefully through the trees. Clarke and Lexa crouched down behind a tree stump immediately. Clarke saw the outline of a man, and immediately raised her pistol.

"Is it him?" Lexa whispered.

Clarke stared down the barrel of her gun. She could see the outline of the man not ten metres away from her, but couldn't make out his face. Then he moved a little closer and Clarke saw-

"No." she said, "It's Lincoln."

All three stepped out of their cover cautiously, meeting each other face to face in a small clearing.

"Clarke? Commander? What are you-" Lincoln looked at them in confusion. Clarke suddenly felt her guilt at leaving rise up in her again.

"Octavia said you were both-"

"You've seen Octavia?" Clarke interjected, hopeful that the younger Blake sibling had survived the blast. She could barely cope with the lives of the grounders she had sacrificed. If Octavia was dead too… she wouldn't be able to live with herself…

"Yeah." Lincoln said simply. Clarke subconsciously let out a sigh of relief. "She survived the explosion, but she's pinned down by a sniper. That's why I'm here." Lincoln continued.

Another gunshot rang out, jolting them back to reality. "Come on, we need to get to the high ground." Lexa said quickly, leading the other two forward into the night.

…

Dawn broke, and the trio were starting to close in on their target. The gunshots were less frequent, but they were much, much closer now.

As they moved slowly up a foothill of the Mountain, Clarke turned back and saw the huge smoke cloud, billowing from the destroyed village. Clarke was forced to close her eyes and turn away in guilt, knowing all those people had died because of her. She wondered how many more lives would be lost before her people were free, and at what cost to herself along the way. She had already lost so much of herself along this journey, and she couldn't help but wonder if at the end of it there would be nothing of herself left at all.

Suddenly, the tree behind her exploded. All three of them turned in shock, then quickly dived behind a large boulder for cover. The sniper had found them.

A rapid fire series of bullets ricocheted off the boulder, one of which came perilously close to striking Lincoln. They were pinned down, and both they and the sniper knew it.

"So much for the element of surprise…" Lexa remarked.

"I'll draw his fire." Lincoln said, preparing to break cover.

"No! I will!" Clarke told him determinedly.

Straight away she stood up from behind the boulder, spotted the sniper - hiding behind an uprooted tree - and opened fire on him with her pistol.

The two traded shots but Clarke stood tall and eventually forced the sniper to take cover. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lincoln circling around behind him, closing in for the kill.

Clarke ducked back behind the boulder, her job done. She peered out from around the side as the sniper rose from behind the tree stump. Clarke realised in horror that he wasn't wearing any protective clothing. The blood treatments had worked. Which meant her friends would be dead very soon, as their blood was drained from them in order to allow the Mountain Men to survive instead. Clarke clenched her fist again.

And then, with frightening ferocity, Lincoln charged out from the bushes and ploughed into the sniper, taking him by surprise.

The two fought viciously, exchanging heavy punches, kicks, even head butts. Clarke and Lexa could only watch on as Lincoln eventually got the better of the sniper, forcing him to the ground and then pummelling him with blows to the face.

Lincoln drew his dagger as the sniper lay on the ground beneath him. Clarke felt the slightest sadistic sense of satisfaction, knowing that one of her enemies was about to be killed.

Lincoln made to bring the knife down, when at the last moment, the sniper pulled a tone generator from his pocket and flicked it on. Still suffering the effects of the Reaper 'Red' drug, Lincoln covered his ears with his hands and screamed in agony, dropping his dagger. The sniper threw Lincoln off him, and got to his feet, holding a knife of his own to Lincoln's throat.

Clarke knew she had to do something, so she ran out from behind the boulder, stood in front of the sniper, and levelled her pistol at his heart. In response, the sniper pulled Lincoln in front of him, covering himself with the struggling grounder.

"Drop your weapon!" the sniper hissed at her. Clarke ignored him. She knew that she could shoot Lincoln through the shoulder, hitting the sniper in the heart. Eyes cold, she pulled the trigger.

But no bullet came out.

Her gun just clicked uselessly. Out of ammo.

Clarke looked down at her gun in a mix of shock and disbelief. This could not be happening. She looked back up at the sniper, as an evil smile crossed his face. With Lincoln still incapacitated by the tone generator, he made a decision to kill another target first: Clarke.

He shoved Lincoln to the side and advanced towards her. A whole new level of fear engulfed her. She looked around her, searching for a way to escape, but there was none. Lexa was too far away to help and Lincoln was still writhing on the ground in agony. The sniper charged towards her, and Clarke began moving backwards in terror, but she knew she was never going to escape. This was it. She was going to die.

Just as the sniper was about to get to her though, a blur of black movement shot in front of her, collecting the sniper and shoving him aside.

Clarke turned, just in time to see her saviour dispatch the sniper with two, lightning fast slashes of each of the twin swords he held in his hands.

The sniper dropped, his throat slit open and a look of utter surprise on his face. Clarke's mouth dropped open in shock as the man turned around and looked her through narrowed, laser focussed purple eyes, pulled back his black hood and revealed himself: Aerrow Eroxin.

"I take back what I said." He told her, "I will _always_ be there for you."


	33. Chapter 33

Clarke lay wide awake in her tent, tossing and turning, desperately trying to get some sleep. Tomorrow, she, Lexa and the rest of the grounder army were going to march on Mount Weather, and finally take back the people they had lost. She knew she needed to be well rested, for she would be needed to help Lexa command their forces, and as such a good night's sleep was vital. But sleep wouldn't come.

No matter how hard she tried, her mind would not let her rest. She just kept flashing back to the events of the day gone past. She could not stop picturing herself pointing her gun at Lincoln – held by the sniper. She remembered the burning anger that flowed through her, and the sadistic desire to kill the sniper. She could practically _feel _the cold metal of the gun against her hands.

And then she fired.

And this time, the bullet came out. It struck Lincoln clean through the heart, killing him instantly. The grounder dropped, revealing that the sniper behind him had only been grazed by the bullet. And then he drew his knife, and before she could do anything, he slashed her throat.

Clarke's eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright in bed. She was hyperventilating, and was covered in a cold sweat. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and looked down at her hands. They were shaking uncontrollably. She knew why. She hadn't just needed to kill the sniper. She had _wanted _too. She had _wanted _to put a bullet in his chest, to see the life leave his eyes. That realisation terrified her. She shouldn't have even still been alive. If it hadn't been for Aerrow-

_Aerrow…_

Clarke's breathing became much more shallow as she remembered. _He had come back. To her._

Clarke glanced around the room. She felt so lonely and isolated. So frequently now did she feel that she didn't even recognise herself, she just needed some way… some way to remind herself of who she was.

A look of nervous uncertainty on her face, she slowly rose to her feet, and left the tent.

…

Aerrow stirred at the sound of his tent flap opening. Instantly awake, he got straight to his feet, anticipating a threat. He stood dead still in surprise when he saw Clarke standing in front of him.

"Clarke?" he said quietly. "You ok?"

Clarke said nothing. She was unable to. She had no idea what she was feeling, much less what to say. She had only just realised where she was. Her body had acted on autopilot, taking her to the only source of comfort she knew anymore. Aerrow stood before her, bare chested, the silvery moonlight glinting faintly off his exposed skin.

Aerrow stared at Clarke. He saw the look of fear on her face. He recognised it instantly, because it was the same look he'd seen in the mirror for the past two years. Sadness and fear. Fear of oneself, and what they were becoming.

"Hey, come here." He told her gently. They both sat down on the bed. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Clarke's breath caught in her throat. She didn't know where to start. "You came back…" she choked out.

Aerrow stared at her with soft eyes. "Yeah." He nodded.

Clarke lowered her eyes to the scars adorning his chest. Some were old, some were new. She hesitantly lifted her hand and grazed her fingers over the small one just below his heart, the one _she _had inflicted.

"You shouldn't even be alive." Clarke whispered, her voice hoarse and pained. "You died… You stood there and said goodbye to us and then let them take you and what did I do? I killed you…" tears ran slowly down her cheeks and in her lap, her hands curled tightly into fists.

Aerrow gently placed one of his hands over hers. "Clarke, listen to me. What happened to me, that wasn't your fault. Nothing was." His voice was soft and gentle. "I've done some… terrible things, too many to count. But my biggest regret is putting you in that position, and I'm sorry."

Clarke sniffed. So much had happened since they'd landed on the ground. Her friends had suffered – and continued to suffer so much. They'd _lost _so much, of what they'd cared about and of themselves. But no one seemed to feel it quite in the same way she did. Criminals or not, she had cared for each and every one of them, and she had witnessed so many of them die, and she still believed that she could have saved them.

"I let them die. I let all of them die." Clarke sobbed in anguish, speaking of the missile that had blown apart Tondc.

Sensing her emotional torture, Aerrow quickly shifted and knelt down in front of her, holding the sides of her head in his hands. "Think of all the lives you'll save tomorrow." He told her. "Our friends will be back tomorrow, and it'll all be over."

He sighed, and fixed her with a piercing stare. "For now… just try to be happy, just for one moment in this lifetime."

Clarke looked up at him through the tears in her eyes. "Happiness is a lie." She sniffed.

Aerrow looked at her, and paused. He remembered saying those exact words himself, when it was him in such a fragile mental state. "You're wrong." He told her, echoing what Alexis told him. "Happiness is a choice."

Clarke flicked her gaze to his, and they locked eyes, staring at each other, sharing their common emotions without needing to speak. Clarke suddenly felt something surge through her, an overwhelming need to not be alone anymore, to not have to fight this war on her own. He was so close to her. And this time, she let herself be drawn to him. She stopped fighting, and let herself go. She closed her eyes, and their lips met in a release of emotion and stress, but most of all, _love._

They kept their lips together as they got to their feet. Clarke wrapped her arms around his neck, while Aerrow grasped under her arms, each pulling the other closer. Their kissing was slow, and tender, not at all rushed or lusting. They simply wanted to feel each other.

For Clarke, it was like an explosion of the emotions that had been building up within her ever since she found him lying, nearly dead on that river bank, and realised he was still alive. Ever since they had first met on the ground, she had found herself being inexplicably drawn to him. They were irreversibly linked to each other, they needed each other to live, to function wholly, _to survive._

The hatred and hostility she had felt for him at times had vanished, replaced by a burning desire to just be with him. As she kissed him, and felt the warmth of his body against hers, she felt all the pain and misery begin to fade away.

For Aerrow meanwhile, finding Clarke was like finding home again. Everything was so familiar, the softness of her lips, the heat from her skin, and the burning love he felt for her. Since the first time they had got together, both had changed unimaginably. Both had acquired fresh scars, both physical and mental, their spirits forged in the fire of the fight for survival on the ground. Lovers had come and gone, battles had been won and lost, but through it all, Clarke was the one constant in his life.

They lay back down on the bed together, and just stayed there, kissing slowly but passionately. They never progressed beyond kissing, they didn't feel the need to. That night was not about making love. It was about showing love, reconnecting with each other. All that mattered was that they had found each other again, and for now, that was enough.

…

Later that night, Clarke and Aerrow lay together in the tent, arms tightly wound around each other, wanting to be as close to each other as possible. Both were fast asleep.

Suddenly, the tent flap opened and in walked Abby Griffin. She had heard that Aerrow had come back, and was going to help them beat Mount Weather, but she needed to be sure. She saw Aerrow and Clarke lying together and froze instantly.

Abby stared at the two teenagers and clenched her jaw. Abby felt a surge of anger shoot through her. She had _told _Aerrow to stay away from her daughter, and he had ignored her. Now the purple eyed warrior was going to pay for it. She had not wanted it to come to this, but now Aerrow had left her no choice.

Abby's face hardened as she clenched her fist, and walked out of the tent.

…

The following morning, Aerrow and Clarke awoke to the sounds of the grounder army preparing to leave for Mount Weather. As much as they both wanted to just stay right where they were, they knew it was time to get up.

They got ready for the forthcoming battle in silence. Clarke put on the coat she had been given by the grounders, while Aerrow donned his black face paint, and his hood, electing to leave his facemask off. They barely said a word to each other, concentrating instead on what was to come.

The night before had changed something, in both of them. They had finally admitted they needed each other, and let their feelings be shown, instead of hiding them beneath lies and excuses. Both Clarke and Aerrow felt relaxed and free. For the first time in so long, they were _happy._

They exited the tent, hand in hand, and began walking over to the assembly point. There was no one else around them.

Suddenly, Abby walked out from around another tent and stood in front of them, arms crossed. Both Clarke and Aerrow stopped instantly. Behind Abby, emerged another group of people. Soldiers. In protective body suits. Mountain Men.

"What is this?" Aerrow breathed.

"Mom, what the hell-"

"Take him." Abby said sternly.

The soldiers immediately rushed towards Aerrow. Aerrow retaliated, pushing Clarke behind him and taking on the guards. With his Qinta training, he was able to take the first two soldiers down, but eventually their numbers overwhelmed him, and the soldiers soon held him in front of Abby.

"Mom what are you doing?" Clarke screamed from behind Aerrow, in total shock at what was happening.

"I'm sorry, Clarke." Abby said flatly, "But this is something that needs to be done."

Without another word, she turned and began walking away, followed by the soldiers, Aerrow with them. He fought and he struggled to get free, but the soldiers held him tightly. Frantically, he looked back at Clarke.

Clarke could only watch them go in utter horror. "CLARKE!" Aerrow shouted desperately, before he vanished from sight. Clarke dropped to the ground, unable to breathe, in total shock at what had just happened.

Aerrow lost sight of Clarke as the soldiers carried him away. He fought with increased vigour, but to no avail. "NO!" he screamed in exasperation. He couldn't believe what was happening.

Just in front of him, one of the soldiers walked up beside Abby. He exchanged a glance with her, and nodded. "Good work," He said, "_Agent Griffin._"

Abby just returned the look. "_Long live Oblivion._" She said to him.


	34. Chapter 34

Aerrow's eyes flittered open as he blinked back to reality, and he was instantly overcome with a sense of déjà vu, like he was back in that room with Alexis. Except the room he was in this time was different. It was much more dimly lit, and he could barely see any of his surroundings. All he could see was directly ahead of him, where there was a door, which was set in rock, not concrete, as if the room had been carved into the Mountain itself. Once again, he was alone, but this time he was shackled to a metal wall. Unnervingly, he was completely naked, save for a thin white undergarment around his groin area. There was nothing else in the room that he could make out.

He didn't even bother trying to find a way to escape. His mind was too caught up in trying to process the last events he remembered. He and Clarke had found each other again. Finally. And the _very next goddamn day _he gets taken away from her. By the Mountain Men. Again.

_And Abby! Abby had led the mountain men right to him! Why? _It made no sense, why give just him to the Mountain Men? Why give him to them at all? Abby's betrayal of him and her people both confused and enraged him. What did she have to gain by handing him over? She could not possibly have done some sort of deal with the Mountain. Clarke would not rest until _all _her friends were free, especially him, after the previous night. It no sense for the Mountain Men to just take him either, and none of the others-

_Wait…_

Their bodysuits…

There was something different about them. They weren't the same as the ones worn by the Mountain Men that had captured him the first time. He had seen them before… but where?

Then he remembered.

The Qinta fortress.

That man… The one who had managed to find the fortress, something no one had ever done before. That man had been wearing the same style of bodysuit. His words echoed in Aerrow's head. "_You can run all you want. We will find you. We need you, Subject Alpha."_

Aerrow felt a new wave of horror wash over him. Very real, and like nothing he had ever felt before. He hadn't been captured by Mount Weather. He had been captured by-

Suddenly, the door to the room cracked open, and Aerrow was momentarily blinded by the light that flooded in. He recoiled from the brightness and shut his eyes, and he heard a series of footsteps as someone entered the room.

As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the light, he focussed them on whoever had walked into the room. He found himself staring at an old man, small and hunched, with wrinkled skin. The old man wore a pair of golden circular rimmed glasses, and his eyes radiated not only intelligence, but also cunning. Standing behind the man was a collection of soldiers and what looked to be scientists, judging by their white lab coats.

"We meet at last, Mr Eroxin." The old man said to him. He spoke with a German accent, and at first Aerrow was surprised that he knew his name, but then he remembered what the man at the fortress had said, that they had been looking for him.

"Who are you people?" Aerrow growled, glaring at the man.

"Oh believe me, you know who we are." The old man chuckled, "You've known us your entire life, you've just never been allowed to know we exist." The old man stepped closer, until he was inches away from Aerrow's face. "Oblivion." He hissed, before stepping back.

Aerrow's eyes hardened instantly. So this was what Oblivion was. Some sort of organisation. He had no idea what sort of organisation, nor their members or their objectives. He had never heard of any such thing until Dylan told him in his final moments, that he had been forced to kill Arianna by Oblivion. Aerrow didn't believe him at the time, but now he realised that Dylan had been telling the truth…

His heart sank at that realisation. All this time, he had thought – believed – Dylan guilty of taking everything he loved away from him on the Ark. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that Dylan was just a pawn, used by this organisation, this Oblivion. He had _killed _his friend, for a crime he never wanted to commit. He felt a surge of anger rising up within him. Oblivion had forced his friend to kill the people he loved, and for what reason? He had no idea. He remembered what the man at the fortress had called him. _'Subject Alpha'_.

"What do you want with me?" Aerrow asked slowly, in a low tone.

The old man continued walking back and forth in front of him. "Ah, my dear Mr Eroxin, in order to know the answer to that question, first you must know the answers to many others."

Aerrow said nothing. He narrowed his eyes and waited for the old man to explain.

"My name, is Hans Van Dyke." The old man began.

_Van Dyke… _Aerrow thought. _Why did that name sound so familiar?_

"My grandfather was a scientist, he worked for the Americans during the war. Robert Van Dyke was his name." Van Dyke continued, "He specialised in genetics. Specifically: genetic binding and selective gene removal."

"He discovered that certain cultures of people have their own specific genetic traits. Enhancements, if you like. For example, Canadians are highly intelligent, Australians are adaptable, Venezuelans have exceptional physical endurance, the Japanese have great balance, and so on."

Aerrow snapped to attention at the mention of Venezuela, one of his countries of origin. He racked his brain to remember what other countries he traced his roots back too. Curiously, his heritage came from exactly half of the stations that made up the Ark. In addition to being part Venezuelan, he was also part American, Brazilian, Chinese, Indian and Russian.

Van Dyke continued, "My Grandfather was an extraordinary man. He developed a serum that allowed perfect bonding between the genetic components of a newborn baby, meaning that only the best attributes of the parents' DNA is passed on to the child, leading to higher physical and mental capabilities."

Aerrow's eyes widened slightly. He was starting to get a picture of what was going on, but he needed more information.

"Sadly, before he could finish his research on the matter, this wretched earth wiped itself out, and my grandfather's life's work was lost." Aerrow detected the resentment in Van Dyke's voice. He was not a man who was happy with the world. "Fortunately, though, there was still a solution." Van Dyke went on, "In space."

Aerrow realised what he was talking about instantly. "The Ark." He stated, more than questioned.

"Yes. Fortunately, enough people loyal towards our cause made it to the space stations in time, and so began our influence."

"Influence?"

"Remember what I just said, about certain cultures having enhanced attributes? We knew which attributes were held by each of the countries on the Ark, so we began choosing the right people, of the right cultures to breed, mixing those enhancements and then perfectly binding the resultant DNA, with my grandfathers serum."

Aerrow remembered the visions he had been having, of him thrashing around on a table while scientists injected him with a dark green liquid. He had been right, it wasn't just a vision. It was indeed a memory. _He was one of the subjects._

"This continued for generations, until each characteristic of each culture was mixed together between two people, with six cultures to a person. You are one of those, _Subject Alpha."_

Aerrow took a deep breath, his fears confirmed. "Who was the other?" He asked shakily.

Van Dyke did not answer immediately, "It's funny you should ask that, Subject Alpha." He said, as if he was amused by Aerrow's confusion. "Because in reality, you should not have existed in the first place."

"Why? Why not?" Aerrow asked quickly, voice nervous and agitated. He was learning about his past, why he even existed, and it terrified him, that he had been a part of this… this experiment from before he had even been born.

"Before you were born, there was meant to be another: Subject Bravo. Unfortunately the serum was not successfully injected, and the DNA was not perfectly bonded, so the subject was… disposed of… and his parents were made to conceive another: you."

Aerrow's mouth dropped open as a thousand thoughts raced through his head. His parents had had a child before him. _He had a brother. Who?_

"Disposed of?" Aerrow said angrily, "You mean you killed him?"

"No, we didn't." Van Dyke said, "Your brother was adopted by another family: the Blakes."

Aerrow's eyes shot open. He knew instantly. Bellamy. Bellamy was his brother! The sheer craziness of the concept was too much for him to comprehend.

"Who else is there?" He asked, panting in shock. "Who is the other subject?"

Van Dyke paused his pacing, and looked him dead in the eye. "_Subject Sierra._" He said slowly.

Aerrow was about to ask who that was, when he realised something, and he froze in horror. Someone he knew had a multicultural background too, from six different countries. _The exact six countries he wasn't from: Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Britain and Uganda._ His name was Aerrow, the same first letter as in 'Alpha', same as 'Bellamy' had the same first letter as 'Bravo'. There was only one person 'Subject Sierra' could be…

"Sara…" Aerrow breathed in horror and disgust.

"Yes…" Van Dyke confirmed, before his eyes hardened and he began walking towards Aerrow ominously.

"Make no mistake, Subject Alpha, this is very much your destiny. You were meant to be here. Every single thing that has happened in your life has been controlled by us. We created you, we influenced you, we shaped you into the person you are today. You were meant to meet Subject Sierra, and the two of you were meant to conceive that final piece of our genetic puzzle: Subject X. The ultimate blending of cultures. The perfect Human Being."

Aerrow nearly fainted from the shock of so many revelations. Bellamy was his brother. Arianna had been killed on purpose. He was meant to meet Sara. And then… _Oh god… _the skeleton…. The foetus inside the skeleton… That was Subject X. Oblivion's plan had fallen into place perfectly, except for one thing.

"Sara was killed." Aerrow growled in pure anger. "Your 'perfect human' is lost to you."

"This is true." Van Dyke said, apparently unfussed by this, "Which is why we need you now."

Aerrow tried moving away from the old man as he approached, but he was held firm by the shackles around his wrists and ankles. "What do you need me for?"

"We recovered Subject Sierra's DNA, and now we have your DNA too. Subject X will still be created, mark my words."

"How?" Aerrow demanded, his confusion and unease growing exponentially.

Van Dyke looked him dead in the eye, and smiled evilly. "By injecting you with Sierra's DNA. We are going to turn you into Subject X."

At that instant, the 'wall' he had been shackled to revealed itself to not be a wall at all, rather a metal table that suddenly titled back horizontally, and began descending into a tank full of translucent liquid. A scientist jammed a scuba style breathing mask over Aerrow's mouth just as the table dropped into the tank, completely enveloping Aerrow in the liquid.

A series of needles lowered down around Aerrow, and he realised the true gravity of the situation he was in. He was going to be injected with Sara's DNA, the DNA of the girl he loved – that he was _meant _to love. He was going to be _turned _into the baby they would have inevitably had. He realised in horror that the liquid around him was that DNA.

Outside the tank, where Aerrow could not hear, Van Dyke addressed the scientists. "My friends, we are about to witness the creation of Subject X. Through the process of Nano-injection, Subject Alpha's cells will be injected with the DNA of subject Sierra. The procedure has begun."

Van Dyke then pressed a button on the side of the tank, and the needles instantly punctured Aerrow's skin and went to work.

Aerrow suddenly felt a pain unlike anything he had ever felt before. It was so much more precise, so internal, and much, _much _more intense.

Unknown to him, his body was at that moment being injected through the needles with millions of tiny artificial objects called 'nanoinjectors'. These tiny, atomic sized devices had been invented before the war, and because of their size, were able to actually penetrate through the cell wall and inject DNA into that cell, changing its genetic structure. This was exactly what was happening to Aerrow.

It felt like a million cuts being inflicted on him at once, from the inside out. It was burning, unbearable, and unrelenting. It was like he was being sliced up and pieced back together again. Aerrow tried to scream, but was unable to through the scuba mask. The shackles around his limbs and torso prevented him from even moving away. All he could do was grunt, clench his jaw and endure the pain.

The entire time, the same thought raced through his head: _This could not be happening. He could not be getting injected with the DNA of the dead girl he once loved. He could not be getting turned – physically turned – into another goddamn person. But he was._

Hans Van Dyke and the Oblivion scientists watched on as the liquefied DNA in the tank slowly drained as it was injected into Aerrow's body until finally, it was all gone. Van Dyke allowed himself to smile as his eyes glistened evilly. His life's work, his mission, the mission of his grandfather was so nearly complete. The final piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place.

The needles withdrew from Aerrow's body, leaving the teenager just lying there in the empty tank, completely still. Van Dyke was worried for a moment that his most valuable asset might have been killed, but one of the scientists showed him a tablet displaying Aerrow's vital signs. He was very much alive. "Procedure completed." He breathed in evil satisfaction.

Through the pain that was only slightly beginning to dull, Aerrow felt the table he was on begin to lift up again, and tilt back to horizontal. The scuba mask was removed from his face and he opened his eyes, to find himself glaring not at Hans Van Dyke, but at himself. He was looking to a mirror.

Except the person staring back at him wasn't him. It was someone else. At least, that's what it looked like. His hair was now blonde and his eyes sky blue, just as Sara's had been. His skin was lighter in colour and, curiously, now completely free of scars, though his tattoos remained.

Aerrow stared at his reflection in abstract disbelief. He could not believe that this was what he had been turned into. A perfect combination of himself and Sara. The perfect human.

The mirror was taken away, leaving him looking at the Van Dyke and the other Oblivion scientists. Once more, he felt the anger. Pure, blinding anger coursing through him, at these bastards that had done this to him. He strained in furious agony to get free of the shackles, screaming in rage as the veins bulged out of his arms at the effort he was exerting.

Van Dyke watched on in amusement. Then he turned to the scientist next to him and said "DNA fusion successful. Inject the memory retardant."

The scientist nodded and immediately stepped forward, pulled a syringe out of a small silver cartridge and calmly injected it into Aerrow's neck.

Aerrow froze instantly, feeling a new and unfamiliar substance enter his bloodstream. Suddenly, his head began to hurt, throb unbearably. He had heard what Van Dyke had said. They had already turned him into this, there was no way he was going to let them take his memory as well. He firmly pictured Clarke in his head.

The throbbing only got worse though, until eventually it was all he could focus on. Unable to clutch his hands to his head, Aerrow could only squeeze his eyes tightly shut and scream as in an instant, the image of Clarke and her smiling face shattered into a million pieces.

**I hope this chapter was as fun to read as it was for me to write, because I had HUGE fun writing this chapter. Finally, everything is coming together and I can at last write down and reveal all the ideas I had when planning this story over a year ago. Everything is just going to get better from here. Stay tuned for more soon.**


	35. Chapter 35

BANG!

The gunshot echoed inside the room, reverberating off the concrete walls and making everyone who heard it jump in surprise.

Dante Wallace instantly felt a sharp, burning pain emanate from his chest. He looked down in shock and saw a circle of blood rapidly expanding outwards from the hole that had just been opened up in his chest. Then, very quickly, darkness filled his vision as death came, and his body dropped to the ground, revealing his shooter.

Standing in front of Dante, holding the still-smoking pistol levelled at where Dante's heart had just been, was Clarke Griffin.

She watched on, eyes hard, as Dante dropped. She watched him collapse to the ground, gasping for air, before finally he breathed his last. Only then did she lower her pistol.

She had finally made it inside Mount Weather, but the road she took to get there had been anything but easy.

Seeing Aerrow getting taken away by the Mountain Men had broken her heart. She had only just got him back, and now he was gone, again. It was like her life was on repeat. That it was Abby, _her own mother_, that had led the Mountain Men right to him, and ordered them to take him away had positively destroyed her. The image of Abby walking away with the Mountain Men, as they dragged Aerrow behind them while she watched on, unable to do anything, was permanently burnt into her mind, like a nightmare she couldn't forget. Abby had never returned. Somehow, she must have been working with Mount Weather, for some unfathomable reason. No one was who they appeared to be, it seemed.

After many tears shed alone in her tent, Clarke had been able to gather herself together for the assault on Mount Weather. She'd used her anger and her grief to give her added determination to see the end of the Mountain, and under her direction, their individual teams went to work. Octavia and Indra had led a team to get the prisoners out through the Reaper tunnels, while Raven and her friend Wick had the job of cutting the power to the Mountain, so Clarke and Lexa's team could blow the lock on the main door and take the Mountain that way.

Everything had been going to plan, until it became apparent that Lexa had made a deal with the Mountain Men: free the grounder prisoners, in exchange for the rest of the grounder army leaving and not stepping foot inside a minimum radius surrounding the Mountain ever again.

To Clarke's total shock and utter dismay, the retreat was sounded, and the grounder army – the army she needed in order to take the Mountain – left immediately. Realised they were outnumbered and now fighting a losing battle, the guards from Camp Jaha left as well, condemning the trapped delinquents inside to their deaths.

Clarke refused to give up. She had been broken down, tormented, her heart ripped apart beyond repair, but she wasn't going to give up. _There had to be another way_ she told herself. _She was not going to let her friends die. She had lost too many people dear to her already._

She had gone through the Reaper tunnels, trying to find a way in. She was relieved to discover that Octavia had stayed behind, only for the warrior-in-training to blame her for what was happening, saying that it was her fault for trusting Lexa. Given their current position, and her fragile mental state, Clarke couldn't help but think that Octavia was telling the truth. The stress of everything that had happened, she was at her absolute breaking point.

Despite Octavia's protests, Clarke had prepared to shoot her way into the Mountain, only for Bellamy to appear, along with Jasper and Monty. Overjoyed that the three were still alive, Clarke asked where the others were. Bellamy said they were bleeding them, one at a time, draining their blood in order to transfuse it into the bodies of the residents of Mount Weather.

Clarke felt that now familiar anger rise up in her, and she went straight for the control room, stopping along the way to retrieve Dante, who had been locked up in quarantine after his son, Cage, had overthrown him.

Thanks to Monty's technological genius, they'd quickly got inside the control room. It was completely deserted, and Bellamy said that because of the power loss, everyone in the Mountain was currently on the fifth level, the only one free of radiation. Clarke had made radio contact with Cage and gave him the ultimatum of releasing her people, or Dante would be killed. Cage refused, bringing her to the situation she was in now.

Clarke racked her brain trying to think of something else she could do. She had been sure Cage would crack when his father's life was at risk. Obviously she had been wrong. Then she had another thought. A darker one.

Ignoring the looks of horror she was getting from the others for what she had just done, Clarke strode forward slowly, and spoke into the radio "Listen to me very carefully. I will not stop until my people are free. If you don't let them go, I will irradiate level five." Her voice was cold as ice and deadly serious.

Watching the security camera feed, she saw Cage visibly shake as he heard what she had just said. To irradiate level five would mean the death of _every single one _of the Mountain Men. Cage gave no reply. Instead, she saw him walk out of the dining room and into an isolated corridor. Following him with the cameras, she saw him walk through a restricted access door, and there she saw the rest of her friends, for the first time in weeks. And what she saw horrified her.

Every single one of them was either shackled to the walls of the room, or hung upside down as their blood was drained from them. Among the delinquents who had remained inside the Mountain, she also saw Monroe, David Miller and Marcus Kane. There was no sign of Aerrow. _Where was he? _Clarke realised in horror that he must have already been killed. She fought back the urge to vomit as sparks of rage ignited in her eyes.

"Can you do it? Can you irradiate the level?" She asked Monty.

Monty looked up at her from the control panel he was sat at. "Yes. I can do it." He said hesitantly.

"Good." Clarke replied instantly.

"Clarke, wait a second. We need to think about this…" Bellamy told her. "There are kids in there…"

"I know!" Clarke said, whirling around to face him. He saw the anger in her eyes. He froze instantly. The last time he had seen that sort of anger in someone's eyes was when Aerrow had massacred all those guards… He wondered what sort of hell she had been through since she sent him off to infiltrate the Mountain. Whatever had happened to her, it had changed her. He desperately wanted to say something, but no words formed in his mouth, so instead he just gave her a sad look and turned away.

To all intents and purposes, it appeared Cage had ignored her. He was just standing in the draining room, watching on as her friends had their very blood taken from them, then replaced with others to allow their blood to replenish.

"Hurry up!" she hissed at Monty.

"I did it!" Monty replied quickly. "All we have to do, is pull that lever." He gestured at a small lever on the control panel. "Hatches and vents will open and the scrubbers will reverse, pulling in outside air." He explained.

Silence filled the room. Clarke stared at the lever. All she needed to do was pull it, and it would all be over… She hesitated momentarily, thinking of all the innocent lives that would be lost as a consequence. But then she heard a groan of pain from one of the kids being drained, and her hand shot directly to the lever.

Clarke could feel the others' eyes burning into her back, but she did her best to ignore it. She kept telling herself that this was something she _needed _to do, to save her people. Finn was dead. Aerrow was dead. She wasn't going to let anyone else she cared about die. She made to pull the lever.

Before she could though, a loud rumble echoed through the halls of the Mountain. She paused, and took her hand off the lever. "What was that?" Bellamy breathed.

Suddenly, she heard more screams of pain from the surveillance footage. At first, she thought it was from her friends, but then she realised it was coming from the people of Mount Weather!

All of them began clutching at their faces and screaming in agony, as their skin began to blister and burn. Radiation. In the draining room as well, Cage and the guards collapsed as the radiation poisoned their blood. Behind them, Jasper rushed for the door, screaming "Maya!" - the girl from the Mountain he had fallen in love with. Octavia and Bellamy were forced to hold him back.

"What's happening? I didn't pull the lever!" Clarke asked Monty in exasperation.

"I don't know" Monty replied, hurriedly typing on a keyboard trying to find out. "The system has reversed, but it wasn't from our end."

"What are you saying?" Clarke asked quietly, staring at Monty.

"I'm saying that someone else irradiated the level."

It was at that exact moment that the surveillance feed from every single one of the cameras dropped out.

Clarke froze. She was beginning to get a very bad feeling about this. Confused, Monty began typing again, trying to get the feed back up, only to find he had been blocked from the server. "What the hell-" he began.

Suddenly the door of the room was shoved open. It slammed against the inside wall of the control room with a resounding boom, and everyone inside jumped. Octavia and Bellamy instantly drew their weapons, fearing a trick from the Mountain Men, only to find themselves staring at-

"Aerrow?" Octavia questioned, in total shock.

Standing in front of them was indeed Aerrow Eroxin. Except it wasn't, or at least, it didn't look like him. His skin looked a lighter tone, his hair was now blonde, and somehow his eyes were electric blue, instead of the gleaming purple they used to be. It didn't make sense. He was dressed in his Qinta battle uniform, but without any form of facial concealment. In his hands held his two Coandite swords.

Curiously, he made no movement. He just stood there, staring at them blankly through narrowed, angry eyes. Looking at him, Octavia suddenly got very nervous. His facial expression… it was like he didn't recognise them… something wasn't right.

Despite what she had been about to do, Clarke lit up at the sight of Aerrow again. He was indeed still alive. She barely noticed the change in his appearance, all she cared about was that he was still alive. She rushed over to embrace him.

The moment she touched him though, something totally unexpected happened: he attacked.

The movement was too fast for any of them to register. In the blink of an eye, Aerrow had grabbed Clarke, whirled her around and pressed one of his swords to her throat, while simultaneously throwing his other sword into Bellamy's gun, disarming him instantly.

The others stared at him, wide eyed in shock. "Aerrow what the hell-" Bellamy growled.

That was all he got out though, for at that moment a squad of bodysuit wearing soldiers stormed into the room, carrying P90 assault rifles, equipped with blue laser sights. The super high tech weapons looked like they had been taken straight out of a science fiction movie.

Bellamy, Octavia and the others had no option but to surrender.

"Aerrow… what's going on?" Octavia said, in utter disbelief.

Aerrow never flinched, like he didn't even recognise the name. He simply glared evilly at her and said "You're coming with us."

…

Clarke, Bellamy and the others were marched at gunpoint through the halls of Mount Weather. They were headed downwards, towards level 5.

Aerrow marched out in front, shoulders high, pace steady, holding his swords as if they were permanently glued to his hands.

"Aerrow, what are you doing?" Bellamy asked quietly, out of the soldiers' earshot. . It was the first time Bellamy had seen Aerrow alive since the duel with Lexa, and he wasn't sure what he was more shocked by: that Aerrow was still alive, or that he had apparently forgotten everything about them and was now working with these people. He had no idea who they were, but he knew they weren't Mountain Men. He had been inside the Mountain for weeks now, and hadn't seen so much of a trace of these people, until now.

"Quiet!" Aerrow growled back, not turning around to face him.

"Aerrow, we're your friends, why are you doing this?"

Instantly, Aerrow whipped around and pressed one of his swords against Bellamy's throat. Bellamy froze instantly. Another centimetre and his throat would have been slit open. The cold metal of the sword against his throat wasn't what terrified him however, it was the look in Aerrow's eyes. They were hard, vicious, remorseless. Bellamy could tell just by looking into the other man's eyes that he would not hesitate to kill him. What's more, it was like he didn't even recognise them, and there was nothing in his eyes that reminded Bellamy of the Aerrow he had known. Without a word, Aerrow suddenly withdrew his sword and kept walking.

Eventually, they came to the dining room on level five. Strewn across it were the bodies of the hundreds of residents of Mount Weather, all of them burned beyond recognition by the radiation, which had evidently now cleared, as the soldiers had taken off their protective suits. Clarke stared at the bodies in horror. This is what would have happened to them anyway, had she pulled that lever…

Octavia meanwhile realised that because the Mountain Men really were dead, it hadn't been a trick. Someone else had irradiated level five. And whoever they were, they were obviously the same people that had turned Aerrow into this… monster. What the hell had happened to him, that could possibly turn him into what he was now, both physically and mentally. Octavia swallowed nervously as they approached the door to the draining room, realising she would probably find out soon enough.

…

The five were marched into the draining room and quickly chained to the wall along with the others. Gasps of confusion went up from among the other delinquents, first when they saw what Aerrow looked like, then when they realised that he was working with the enemy. Meanwhile, the draining equipment was being cleared out of the room, replaced by a flat metal operating table accompanied by a tray of surgical equipment and what looked to be a drill.

When the captives were all shackled to the wall, and everything was in place, Hans Van Dyke made his appearance. Everyone turned to look at him as he entered the room, striding slowly, but purposefully. He passed by Subject X, and gave him a subtle pat on the shoulder. His weapon was performing exactly as expected. Subject X meanwhile just stood dead still, eyeing the captives, watching for any threats.

"Who are you?" Clarke spoke immediately, determined to keep her voice strong. She hadn't seen any sign of her mother as of yet, which she found strange given she had turned Aerrow over to these people in the first place. She still couldn't comprehend what could have made Abby do such a thing. At the back of her mind, something was telling her that there must have been more to the story, but right now all she could think about was the anger at Abby and the man standing in front of her, for what they had done to Aerrow and what they were surely going to do to her and her friends.

Van Dyke stopped in front of her, and eyed her cautiously. So she was the leader. No wonder the outsiders had done so well with their plan. This girl was intelligent, calculating, thought ahead. In many ways, she was much the same as him, and in other circumstances he would have liked to have gotten to know her better, but in this moment she had a far greater use for him.

"My name is not of your concern." He said simply.

"What have you done to Aerrow?" Clarke demanded.

Van Dyke paused. He could tell immediately by her tone of voice that she harboured feelings for Subject X. He strode up to her slowly. "Aerrow Eroxin no longer exists." He told her quietly, so that only she could hear. "He has been transformed, into the person he was always destined to create."

Clarke didn't understand at all. "What are you talking about? What do you need him for?"

Van Dyke chuckled at her evilly. "My dear…" he began, "I'm going to take over the world."

Clarkes eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, unable to say anything. This definitely wasn't Mount Weather. This was something much bigger, and much, much more dangerous.

Van Dyke took a step back, and addressed the people in the room, from the people chained to the wall, to the scientists beside the table.

"My friends, this world is decaying. For centuries, it has festered at the ungrateful hand of the plague known as Humanity. Crime, war, needless death, all symptoms of this disease. And for what? Control. That's what. It is the story of mankind, to climb over each other's dead bodies in a desperate desire for power, to rule over others. Well let me tell you, this will not stand!"

Van Dyke turned to face Clarke, eyes blazing. "We are the dog starved at its master's gate. We are the rust upon your machines. We are the insects in your ears, and we refuse to see this world suffer at the hands of humanity any longer. The day will come, when human beings will work with each other, not against each other, when peace can be made, not war. When the Earth can finally be free from the tyranny of society, through the rule of one group."

Van Dyke then looked sideways at Aerrow as he said loudly. "That group is Oblivion, and that day is today!"

"What do you need us for?" Kane called out from across the room. Clarke saw Van Dyke's eyes flash briefly, filling with evil intent.

The old man strode slowly back into the centre of the room. "For the same reason Cage Wallace needed you." He said simply.

Clarke froze in horror, realising instantly. Van Dyke and his followers were trapped inside the Mountain too. Their blood was still needed.

"But what Wallace junior didn't know is that, just like every other human to have ever existed, he wasn't going far enough. Your blood would never have sustained life on the ground. No, he needed to go to the source of your blood: bone marrow."

Clarke's eyes shot open with fear. That's what the table and the drill were for. They were going to drill the bone marrow out of them.

"Wait!" she called out. "You don't have to do this."

Van Dyke locked eyes on her. "Yes I do." He said simply. "We start with her." He commanded, pointing at Raven.

The mechanic let out a whimper of fear as two of the soldiers immediately began walking over to her, where they unclasped her shackles and began taking her towards the table. Raven screamed and fought and struggled with every fibre of her being, but the soldiers used a stolen shock baton to stun her into silence.

Clarke and the others could only watch on helplessly as Raven was strapped down on the table, her arms, legs and head held in place by thick leather straps. A doctor or a scientist – Clarke wasn't sure – cut away part of Raven's shirt, exposing her hip, as it contained the largest marrow pocket in the body.

Clarke could see the fear in Raven's eyes as the doctor then picked up the drill and turned it on. The shrill buzzing sound it made was horrifying. Then the man began lowering it towards Raven's hip.

"Aerrow please!" Clarke called out desperately, hoping something of Aerrow was still there. "Stop this!" she begged.

Aerrow simply fixed her with a cold glare and said slowly "_long live Oblivion."_

Clarke froze. Not at his words, but at his eyes. She hadn't seen it at first, but now, looking at him, his skin, his eyes, his hair. He looked exactly like… _Sara…_

The drill entered Raven's body.

Suddenly though, the door to the room flew open, blasted clean off its hinges. Following immediately were several shuriken throwing knifes. Expertly aimed, one knocked the drill out of the scientists hand just before its deathly tip pierced Raven's skin, while another thudded into the throat. Two more took care of the soldiers covering the others. Another was aimed squarely at Van Dyke's head, but the wily old scientist ducked behind the operating table, and the shuriken thudded harmlessly into the door.

Everyone's heads turned as one to see where the shurikens had come from. Through the smoke left behind by the blast, strode twenty men, all dressed the same as Aerrow, all armed to the teeth with swords, axes, spears and knives. The entire Qinta army. Standing at the front, unrecognised by anyone, stood Sai Rakira. Perched on his shoulder, was a large black and white Monitor Lizard.

At the sight of this new threat, Aerrow instantly had his swords drawn and held by his sides, ready.

"Brother!" Sai called out to him. "We are here to take you back."

Aerrow said nothing. He just glared evilly at these intruders.

"Subject X, do what you were born for." Van Dyke said.

Aerrow flicked his head around to face the old man, and he gave a firm nod, before facing the Qinta again.

Sai recognised the look in his eyes. "I do not wish to fight you, brother!" he said loudly.

"You came here to die." Aerrow hissed.

Sai held his sword grimly. "Then so be it." He said calmly.

It was at that moment that the rest of the Oblivion soldiers came charging through the open door, and in an instant the room was turned into a warzone.

Bullets flew everywhere as the Qinta charged at the soldiers, meeting them in a furious clash of weapons. For all the brutal, high tech efficiency of the P90 rifles, they were by and large useless against the Qinta's equally high tech body armour, the rounds bouncing harmlessly off of the advanced metal.

Aerrow was a different story however. He killed like a force of nature, his Coandite swords slicing through the Qinta's body armour with ease, gutting the warriors that had once been his family where they stood. The Qinta tried to fight back against him, but Van Dyke's DNA fusion had been successful. His DNA combined with Sara's had turned him into a living, breathing weapon: the absolute peak of what was humanly possible. His strength, his reflexes, his endurance, they had all been heightened to the max and now even the Qinta, for all their deadly skills, were nothing against him.

Octavia watched the scene unfold in front of her in a mix of horror and disbelief. She ducked instinctively as a stray bullet very nearly hit her. She closed her eyes and heard a sharp clang of metal on metal, just above her head. She looked up and saw the bullet had severed one of the shackles holding her in place. Glancing back at the battle taking place just metres away, she suddenly realised what needed to be done. She began working the shackles loose.

Warriors from both sides dropped quickly, but the Qinta eventually overwhelmed the Oblivion soldiers, and all of them now lay on the ground, dead. It was now just Aerrow, verses Sai and four other Qinta.

The five Qinta warriors charged at Aerrow, who didn't even blink as he engaged the warriors. The speed of the fighting was unbelievable. Each of the warriors was so supremely skilled, they simply moved too fast to keep up with. It was acrobatic, too. With their identical training, the six warriors danced around the room, spinning and twisting, vaulting over fallen bodies and leaping off walls. The Qinta fought in a way that was totally different to the grounders. It was so much more fluid and smooth, like their every attack was blended to the next one. More so than that, they worked as a team, perfectly coordinating their attacks so when one warrior was attacking, another was about to. This meant that Aerrow had to be continuously fighting off killing blows.

But fight them off he did. With his new, enhanced abilities, Aerrow blocked the Qinta's swings with comparative ease. He never stopped moving, strategically moving around the room, dodging and ducking swings. He was able to pick out minute imperfections in his opponents' attacks, and made them pay for it with lighting fast and deadly accurate jabs of his own, and one by one the Qinta warriors dropped until eventually, it was only Sai left.

Sai and Aerrow fought grimly and brutally. The master and the student, now pitted together in a way they never should have been. In his heart, Sai did not want to have to kill the teenager, he was far too promising, and having seen the rest of his brotherhood destroyed, Aerrow may have been his last hope of rebuilding his family. But Sai could tell, looking into the pitiless blue eyes, that the Aerrow he knew, that he brought in to the Qinta cult, that he trained, was gone.

That thought saddened Sai. His family was truly gone. This slightest lapse of concentration was his downfall. In an explosive movement, Aerrow broke through his defences and stabbed him, directly though his heart.

Sai dropped to his knees instantly, his eyes wide open in shock and pain. His mouth gaped but no words come out. Aerrow looked down at his defeated foe through evil, remorseless eyes. Then he withdrew his sword with a cold hearted yank.

"I'm sorry brother…" Sai whispered as he felt his life force departing. "I'm so… so sorry…" and then with a final gasp, Sai Rakira, the legendary Qinta warrior, dropped to the ground. Dead.

Clarke sighed in horror, and resignation for her fate. The Qinta were all dead, and with them, and hope of escape. Thanks to Aerrow, they were all still going to be killed.

Aerrow stood over his fallen foe. He felt nothing. No satisfaction. Nor remorse. He simply _was_. He knew nothing other than the violence, the killing. It was all he had been taught to do.

Meanwhile, Hans Van Dyke's mind was racing. The arrival of this new group of warriors had taken him and his men completely by surprise, and now half of his entire military force was dead. He realised that there was nothing more he could do at this moment. The captives were not going anywhere. He needed to return to his base of operations (hidden hundreds of metres below the Mount Weather complex) and regroup. He told Subject X to follow him and the two began to walk out of the room.

Aerrow followed Van Dyke obediently. But just as they were about to exit, a shuriken came flying from behind then and thudded into a button on the wall: the button that activated the emergency airlock. It was a standard system on every door of Mount Weather to have a back up airlock in the event of a radiation leak, and this one was no difference. Instantly, a thick metal door slid down, blocking the exit.

At the same moment, Aerrow felt something metallic smash into the back of his head. Alarmed that something had attacked him, he looked down at the ground to see what had hit him. He saw a pair of shackles, like the ones on the wall.

"We are not going down without a fight." A strong female voice said from behind him.

Slowly, he turned around to see who it was. Clarke looked over too, and she gasped.

Standing in front of Aerrow, sword in hand, was Octavia Blake.


	36. Chapter 36

**This has been by far my favourite chapter to write so far. Ever since I first conceived this storyline, I have been looking forward to this chapter: pitting Octavia against Aerrow in an impossible duel. This is really the culmination point of the story. I just hope I've done it justice.**

"Octavia… don't!" Bellamy spoke – pleaded – from his position, shackled to the wall, unable to do anything. "You can't…" tears began forming in his eyes as he said it. He could see everything that was about to happen. Octavia was going to try to fight Aerrow. And she was going to die. Having seen what he had just done to the other black clad warriors, Bellamy knew she wouldn't stand a chance.

Octavia ignored her brother, instead staying right where she was, glaring into the emotionless blue eyes of the person that had once been Aerrow Eroxin. She saw his hands go to the hilts on the swords stowed over his back, saw him draw them slowly, coldly. Saw the glistening blood still on their blades. She closed her eyes and repeated in her head what she had said to herself every night since the day she learnt how to speak:

_I am not afraid._

Eyes hard and evil, Aerrow advanced towards her slowly. She could not help but back away from his imposing form as he approached. She gripped her sword tightly, ready for what was surely to come.

"Aerrow, listen to me." She said to him, voice hard and determined, hanging on to the hope that any part of Aerrow that was left would listen. He didn't.

Quick as a flash, he swung his sword at her. She barely registered it in time, and quickly brought her own sword up to parry it.

"This isn't you!" Octavia continued, stumbling backwards from the force of the strike. She was immediately forced to block another, harder swing.

"This isn't who you are!" she shouted at him. Aerrow yelled in rage as he brought both his swords across at her, then span around and viscously kicked her away.

Propelled backwards by the kick, Octavia was unable to keep up with her momentum and tumbled to the ground. Aerrow stood over her instantly, sword in hand.

Wincing from the pain, Octavia looked up at the man that had once been Aerrow, the man she had once admired, both as a warrior and as a person. Only looking at him now, she knew that there really was nothing left. Whatever Oblivion had done to him, they had taken his soul. In the past, she would have been saddened, perhaps even distraught. But not now. Not this time. This time, it gave her determination..

Aerrow raised his sword above his head, preparing to deliver the final, killing blow.

"So this is how it ends, huh?" She growled at him, sparks of fire igniting in her eyes.

Aerrow brought the sword down.

Just as Octavia leapt into action.

She brought her sword in front of her and their two blades crashed together in reverberating fury.

Octavia never stopped moving. She was on her feet in an instant and straight away launched into the fight of her life.

If he was momentarily stunned by Octavia's fightback, Aerrow did not show it, and now swung his twin blades at her with all his enhanced skill. Octavia parried his blows doggedly, ultra focussed.

The others could only watch on in horror. Their fight was dynamic, acrobatic and brutally, savagely fast. Octavia fended off Aerrow's attacks with every ounce of strength and concentration she had. This was unlike every other fight she had ever, ever been in. This was about pure survival. But it was also about something more.

As she fought, she flashed back to everything that had happened to her. Her entire life, she had been hidden away, kept from having the life she deserved. She thought of that dreaded compartment under the floor in the Ark, where she was trapped in eternal darkness for so, so long. She thought of her fight with Fio, and how he nearly pummelled her out of existence. And finally, she thought of Aerrow, and how he refused to train her, how she wasn't good enough. This was her chance. This was her chance to prove she _was _good enough.

Those memories, those heartbreaks, the mental agony of her life so far, it fed her anger, gave her strength, gave her energy. And so Octavia fought on, doing something Sai Rakira and the Qinta had not been able to do: _she survived_

Her blade continued to clash with Aerrow's, ever building in intensity. _But she never faltered._ Not one attack was misplaced. Not one block was inaccurate. She made not one single mistake, for she knew a mistake would mean her death, and death of everyone else she cared about.

Right then and there, in that room deep within the Earth itself, Octavia felt something change. Her sword felt as if it was an extension of her arm. Her senses blurred together, all perfectly attuned to her surroundings. Time seemed to slow for her as was able to crystal clearly her opponents next move. In that moment, she became more than just an ordinary girl. She became a warrior.

The others watched on in a mixture of shock and amazement, at what was happening and that Octavia had survived this long. But it couldn't last.

With a scream pure fury and effort, Aerrow cleaved _right through _Octavia's sword with a brutal swing. Octavia looked down in shock as the blade of her weapon clattered to the ground, useless. And then Aerrow ploughed into her with unbelievable force, driving her backwards and shoving her hard against the wall.

His swords crossed over the front of her throat, pinning her to the wall. She could _feel _the razor edge of the Coandite biting into her skin. She looked dead into the Aerrow's eyes. They were utterly blank and lifeless. In a moment of crushing realisation, she finally realised Aerrow wasn't there, and no matter how hard she tried, there was no getting him back. In that moment, she stopped fighting.

"What have you become?" she whispered in anguish. She closed her eyes and waited for the slicing that would bring about her death. It didn't come.

She opened her eyes and saw Aerrow still staring at her, just as fiercely, but completely still.

And then he spoke.

"There is a madness inside us all." His voice was quiet and raspy, yet incredibly intense. "A madness that lurks in our deepest animal minds, yearning, begging to be set free at every moment of our lives. A madness which is sedated into paralytic silence by the tyranny of _identity._"

He paused, and looked deep into her eyes, and Octavia saw something there. Something different, amongst all the anger, all the rage.

She saw _sadness._

"I am that madness." Aerrow growled, snapping back to reality, slicing his swords across Octavia's throat.

But Octavia moved faster. She brought her leg up, kneeing him in the midriff, while simultaneously punching him in the temple and freeing herself from his deathlock. As she did so, she yanked one of his swords from his grip.

Once he recovered, Aerrow stood and faced Octavia once more. This time, they both had only one, identical weapon each. And then they re-engaged again.

This time, both warriors were fatigued. What had once been smooth, precise swings were now laboured and sloppy. Reactions were slower, and more swings missed their targets. Aerrow though, with his enhanced endurance, easily outlasted Octavia, and began taking control of the fight, landing more and more hits to his fatigued opponent. Octavia did all she could to avoid his strikes as she began backing away. She winced in pain as he sliced across her cheek, drawing blood, just as she felt the cold rock of the wall against her back. He had her trapped.

Octavia saw Aerrow advancing towards her, saw what he was about to do. She knew this was her only chance now, so just as Aerrow was about to strike her down, she attacked.

She spun around… twirling her sword behind her back… completing the spin, she swang at him, causing him to jump backwards… spinning again, she kicked him backwards… She brought herself back around to face him, jabbed her sword at him and…

Struck him.

Clean through the right shoulder.

Aerrow shouted out in pain as Octavia spun him around so _his back _was against the wall, and kicked him. Hard.

Defeated, Aerrow slumped to the ground. Octavia stood over him, his sword in her hand. Staring at him, she smiled internally. She had used his own special attack against him. And this time, _it had worked…_

The whole room was stunned. No one had been expecting that to happen.

"You are not invincible." Octavia growled at him.

Aerrow looked up at her, eyes alight with fury. Without even flinching, he coldly yanked the sword out of his shoulder and began getting back to his feet.

Suddenly though, a streak of black and white raced up Octavia's leg and crawled onto her shoulder: Cleo.

The Lace Monitor immediately leapt onto Aerrow's chest – her weight forcing him back to the ground – and then she bit him on the neck.

Aerrow yelled in pain, and tried to yank the Lizard off of him, But Cleo held firm in her grip, more and more her venom laced saliva trickling into Aerrow's bloodstream with every passing second.

And then something strange happened. After about thirty seconds, Aerrow let go of the Lizard and instead clutched his head and screamed.

Octavia took a step back in shock as Aerrow writhed on the ground in utter agony, clutching at his head, throwing Cleo off him.

The Lizard quickly took its place back on Octavia's shoulder just as Aerrow's convulsions stopped. He looked up at her, and she saw the anger, the ignorance, _soullessness_ leaving his eyes. A tear trickled slowly down his cheek as he stared blankly up at the cieling and weakly choked out "So… nearly… free…"

Then he closed his eyes slowly and lapsed into unconsciousness.

The sword dropped from Octavia's hand as she took several small, shaky steps backwards, closed her eyes and exhaled in deep, deep relief. _She had done it! _She had defeated Aerrow in combat. She had succeeded where the legendary Qinta warriors had failed. _She had saved her friends._

That thought snapped her back to reality, and she instantly grabbed a set of keys from one of the dead soldiers and set about freeing her friends.

She went straight for her brother first. No sooner had she released him from his shackles that he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Octavia returned the embrace, silently confiding her lingering emotions from the fight with the person she cared about most. It was a long time before they separated and working together, they freed the rest of their people.

Clarke sighed in total relief as she felt her weight transfer back into her feet. The first thing she did was rush over to Raven and release the mechanic from her restraints. The events of that day had not yet fully caught up to her. Everything seemed to go by in a rush, and she felt as if she was on autopilot as she hurried to free the remaining delinquents.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of the metal door beginning to rise, and her eyes hardened instantly as she remembered. She quickly grabbed a P90 rifle off the ground and span around, pointing its barrel at the person who had opened the door.

Hans Van Dyke froze instantly when he heard the sound of a safety catch being clicked off. Slowly, he turned around with his hands in the air and faced Clarke and the other furious prisoners. Strangely, he did not look frightened at all.

Clarke glared at the old scientist. She glanced at the person that had once been Aerrow – still slumped unconscious against the wall where Octavia felled him – and then snapped her glare back to Van Dyke. "You turned Aerrow into that monster." She growled. "You're going to pay for that."

Van Dyke grinned slyly at her. "You're not going to kill me." He said, voice eerily calm and confident.

"Want to bet?" Clarke hissed, before seamlessly jamming her finger down on the trigger.

The P90 instantly spewed forth a devastating barrage of machine gun fire. The hypervelocity bullets slammed into Van Dyke's chest, throwing the old man completely off his feet and propelling him backwards through the open door.

It was a full 3 seconds before Clarke let go of the trigger. Eyes completely free of remorse, she stared at Van Dyke's mangled body. Even in his final moments before death, he still seemed totally pleased with himself. "Bad move." He spluttered.

"Why is that?" Bellamy growled.

Van Dyke smiled evilly at him. "The Earth is no ones to rule. With my death, comes yours." With that, Hans Van Dyke, scientist, geneticist, head of Oblivion, breathed his last.

No sooner had his heart stopped beating, that an incessant beeping noise could be heard. Curious and confused, Bellamy edged forward cautiously, and flipped back Van Dyke's outer coat, revealing a small transmitter, it's red light blinking furiously. "What the hell…" Bellamy breathed.

Suddenly, a blaring alarm sounded throughout the corridors of the mountain. The entire group looked around frantically, wondering what was going on.

And then an automated announcement was made.

'_Facility compromised. Erasing procedures initialised. Nuclear detonation in T-minus 5 minutes and counting.'_

It took Bellamy a few seconds to comprehend what has going on, but then he understood, and he felt his blood run cold.

They were going to blow it up. Somehow, a transmitter had been wired into Van Dyke's body that at the moment of his death had trigged a self destruct mechanism. A _nuclear _self destruct mechanism. The old scientist had had a plan right until the end. And now, unless they could get out of the Mountain in less than five minutes, they were all going to be annihilated.

"Clarke, we need to move now!" he shouted. The others realised what was happening too, and everyone began rushing towards the exit, under the direction of Octavia, Jasper and Kane.

Clarke and Bellamy lingered behind for a moment. Clarke stared despondently at Aerrow's body.

"What do we do with him?" Bellamy asked quietly.

Clarke took a shaky breath in as memories of everything Aerrow had been flooded her mind. "We leave him here." She said in resignation, "There's nothing left of him anymore."

With that, they left the room, leaving Aerrow to be blown up.

…

They raced through the corridors under the guidance of Bellamy, who knew exactly which way to go thanks to his time on the inside.

All around them, the alarm kept blaring as they moved up through the levels. By now there was only three minutes left until detonation.

They rounded a corner and there, gloriously, was the main door. The group rushed as one towards it, but then stopped in their tracks instantly when a single figure walked out in front of them: Abby Griffin.

"Abby?" Kane said in shock. "Where have you been? What are you doing here?"

Abby kept her expression stern and completely neutral as she slowly raised a pistol and levelled it a Kane's head. "I'm sorry, Marcus." She said coldly, "But I'm afraid I can't let you leave."

Her words cut through the group like an axe, ripping their souls and their beliefs right out of them. No one could believe it. Abby was… one of the bad guys?

Bellamy was more focussed on the gun in her hands. He looked at the transmitter he had taken from Van Dyke. Its display read two minutes. Two minutes until detonation.

Clarke's eyes hardened instantly the moment she saw her mother again, remembering what she had done. She led Oblivion to Aerrow, let them take him away, let them take the warrior he was, rip his soul out and replace it with evil. She would never forgive her for that.

She strode slowly out in front of the group, and looked dead into her mother's eyes. Abby saw her daughter, and in that moment, her eyes were filled with a deep regret.

Clarke glared at her mother. "You let them take him." She growled, "You led them right to him. Why?"

Abby held her daughters stare. "Clarke, there are things in this world that you don't yet understand-"

"I don't _understand_ how you can turn on your own people!" Clarke shouted through tears, "How you can serve us up like Lab Rats to be slaughtered!"

Bellamy clenched his fist. One minute left. In sixty seconds, they were all going to be vaporised, and Abby was preventing them from leaving. He had to do something, and fast.

"Clarke, listen to me." Abby said slowly, yet seriously. "Everything I have done, has been because I care about you. Because I want a better world for you to live in. Because-"

Bellamy charged at her from the side, crashing into her and knocking the pistol from her grip.

_Fifty seconds left._

Bellamy and Abby rolled on the ground, struggling to overpower each other. The much stronger Bellamy quickly got the upper hand and pinned her to the ground.

_Forty seconds left._

Suddenly though, Abby kneed him in his side, throwing him off her. She quickly got to her feet and pulled a second pistol from her vest. She aimed it squarely at Bellamy's head. He was on his hands and knees, totally defenceless.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way." She told Bellamy in an icy tone. She made to pull the trigger.

But then she got shot.

_Thirty seconds left._

The bullet hit Abby directly between the eyes. Time seemed to freeze. Abby stood completely still for a moment, before dropping to the ground, killed instantly.

Everyone was silent as they beheld the scene in front of them. Abby Griffin lay still on the floor on Mount Weather, blood running from the gunshot wound in her forehead, her face an expression of total, utter shock.

Her shooter: Clarke Griffin.

Smoke still emanating from the barrel, Clarke slowly lowered the pistol and took a shaky breath. She'd had no time to think about what she was doing. She had simply snatched Abby's fallen pistol from the ground, taken aim, and fired.

And now her mother was dead.

She had no time to realise what she had just done. She only had one thought: survive

She quickly tossed the pistol to the side and raced towards the door.

_Twenty seconds left._

Clarke grabbed the heavy flywheel sealing the door shut and pulled with all her strength, but it would not budge. David and Nathan Miller quickly joined her, along with Kane, Wick and Monty, and together, they slowly heaved the flywheel around and the door creaked open.

_Ten seconds left._

Clarke shouted desperately for everyone to leave. The group poured out of the door and began sprinting for their lives.

_Five seconds left._

Clarke took a final, sad look inside the Mountain, thinking of all the lives that had been lost, all the people she loved that had been killed in this war, before the slammed the button to close the door, and took off after the others

_Four seconds left._

Everyone ran as fast as their legs could possibly carry them, desperate to escape the blast. Clarke had no idea how much time was left, nor how big the explosion was going to be. All she could do was run, and hope to god the Mountain would contain the blast.

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One…_

_Detonation._

Deep inside Mount Weather, the 97 year old Nuclear warhead – sitting, undisturbed since the apocalypse – suddenly roared into life, unleashing its fury in the form of a devastating, white hot inferno.

Everything inside the Mountain was vaporised instantly, from the bodies of the Mountain men, to the Qinta, to the entire Oblivion organisation. Along with Hans Van Dyke, Abby Griffin, and Aerrow Eroxin. Nothing survived.

Outside, Clarke and the others felt the ground rumble, before a deep booming sound was word. A split second later, they were propelled off their feet by the shockwave of the blast.

Clarke was thrown forwards, and slammed into a tree. She fell to the ground and lay there, her entire body screaming in agony. Her head throbbed, her ears were ringing, _but she was alive._

Somehow, she and the rest had survived the devastation of the nuclear explosion. She got shakily back to her feet just as an almighty crashing sound was heard. She span around as Mount Weather, once an imposing, impenetrable feature of the landscape itself, collapsed in on itself and began burning itself into eternity.


	37. Chapter 37

The group staggered slowly back to Camp Jaha, exhausted, injured, but _alive._

The war against the Mountain Men, fighting for their freedom against Oblivion and, finally, escaping the nuclear blast had taken its toll on them. Not a single person was without some sort of injury. Kane was bleeding from a head wound, Bellamy's right arm had been sliced by some debris from the blast. Raven's leg brace had been destroyed when she had been thrown away by the shock wave, and needed to be carried by Wick. Indeed, many of the delinquents had barely survived their blood being drained from them.

But they were alive. That was the only thing that mattered.

Octavia walked out in front. She was covered in scrapes and bruises from her brutal duel. Perched on her shoulder was Cleo, the Lace Monitor having escaped the mountain with her, and now stuck by her side, as if they were each other's way of remembering who they'd lost.

Clarke meanwhile ambled alone near the back of the group, lost in her own world. The eight hour walk back had finally given her enough time to process what had happened, and now she wished she hadn't.

She could think only of the people she lost, the people she could have saved, the lives that didn't need to have been taken in this bloody war. So many innocent lives had been lost, just to save the lives of a few that were stuck inside the Mountain. She couldn't help but wonder if it was really worth it.

That wasn't what was causing her agony however.

It wasn't the lives she'd lost. It was the lives she'd _taken._

She felt the dull weight of the pistol in its holster on her thigh as she walked, forever reminding her of what she'd done. She firmly shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, in a desperate attempt to try and stop their furious shaking.

She remembered killing that old scientist (who she now knew was named Hans Van Dyke) in that dreadful room. Remembered the storm of bullets that poured from the rifle she had held, slamming into the old man's body, tearing the scientist to shreds, as she mercilessly held her finger jammed down on the trigger. She knew it was something that needed to be done. Hans Van Dyke was an evil that got what he deserved, for doing what he had done to her friends. _But Clarke couldn't escape from the feeling of satisfaction she felt when she killed him so brutally. _She had become a murderer. And she had liked it.

That wasn't even the worst of it though.

She couldn't stop flashing back to that image of her mother, lying dead on the floor of Mount Weather, blood trickling from the bullet hole in her forehead, so round, smooth and perfect in its lethal precision. The bullet wound _she _had inflicted.

She had _killed_ her own mother. She tried to keep convincing herself shooting Abby was another thing that needed to be done, or else she would have shot Bellamy and they all would have been killed by the explosion. _But why couldn't she have simply maimed her?_ Why did she aim straight at her mother's forehead, and pulled the trigger so quickly?

That memory haunted her, tormented her. She didn't know if she would ever be able to recover from the inescapable fact that she had murdered her own mother, the only family she had left. That wasn't who she was. She was meant to be the good guy. Yet, in taking lives in cold blood, without remorse, she had become the very evil she had been battling against.

The group let out a collective weary sigh of relief as the gates of the camp came into view. The resident citizens were quick to open the gate and rush to the aid of their people. A cacophony of joy and relief could be heard as people realised their friends, their sons and their daughters were alive.

But none were from Clarke.

She stopped outside the gate, her feet unable to move any further. The sights of the joyous reunions only served to further remind her of what she had done, the people she hadn't been able to save.

Bellamy noticed her despondency, walked over and stood by her side. "Hey, we can get through this." He said quietly.

Clarke stared blankly ahead, unable to look him in the eye. "I'm not going inside." She declared.

Bellamy shifted so he was now standing in front of her. "Clarke, you did what you had to do. We all did." He told her. "Please come inside."

Clarke stared at Bellamy. Saw the look on his face, the pleading look, begging her to stay. But she knew she could not. She felt tears forming in her eyes as she shook her head sadly. "Seeing their faces every day… It's just going to remind me of what I did to get them there. Of what I lost…" she trailed off.

She forced herself to look Bellamy in the eye, but she found him staring not at her, but rather over her shoulder, a look of abstract disbelief on his face. Confused she turned around and followed his eyeline. What she saw both shocked her beyond belief and chilled her to her core.

Limping over the rise, left hand clutching his right shoulder, face covered in soot and dust, came Aerrow Eroxin.

Somehow, he too had survived the explosion, after Clarke had left him behind.

The mood immediately became much more tense. The fact that Aerrow was still alive meant he was still a threat. He must have followed them back here to kill them. Bellamy eyes hardened instantly at the sight, and he slowly unslung his rifle from over his shoulder and took aim.

Suddenly though, Aerrow put his hands up and shouted "Don't shoot!"

Clarke's mouth dropped open slightly at his words. Could he somehow have… switched back… to his old self? It didn't seem possible. But then again, it didn't seem possible that he could turn against them in the first place. She eyed him nervously as he approached.

"Aerrow… is it you?" she asked cautiously as he walked up. He stopped dead in his tracks at her voice. She saw the look in his eyes. They were so full of sadness, like he was ready to break down and cry. "It's me, Clarke" he said, voice weak and crackly, "It's me."

In that moment, she knew. Somehow, she just knew that it really was him. She rushed over and through her arms around him. Aerrow returned the act, hugging her close to him and burying his face in her hair in utter relief.

He didn't know it, but he had Cleo to thank for his rediscovered identity. The drug Oblivion had injected him with had not completely dissolved his memory, that was impossible. It had simply shut off the electrical impulses in the section of his brain that controlled his memories, essentially 'blocking' him from his memory. When the Lace Monitor had bitten him, and injected him with her venom, the properties of the venom had reacted with the drug, nullifying it and restoring his memory.

It was a very long time before he and Clarke separated. When they did, Clarke just stood there, staring at his changed face, the once purple blue eyes now bright blue. She had so many questions, but she had no idea how to ask them. "What happened" she eventually choked out, "What did they do to you?"

Aerrow instantly closed his eyes and visibly shuddered as he relived those memories, terrible memories. "I sometimes thought that Sara and I were… meant to be together… in a way." He said quietly, in a raspy voice, "Turns out that was true."

Clarke stared at him, confused. "I don't understand." She said.

Aerrow sniffed. "My whole life has been a lie." He started, "They created me, they bred me, they controlled my life. I was never anything more than an experiment. Subject Alpha."

Clarke took a step back in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Aerrow smiled ruefully. "Oblivion, the people who captured me, they'd been breeding people, blending ethnicities together for generations, heightening natural attributes, until eventually there were two such subjects. I was one. Sara was the other."

"Their plan was that we were to conceive the final subject, the 'perfect human', but then…" Aerrow trailed off as tears began brimming in his eyes. He took a deep, shaky breath before continuing. "They injected me with Sara's DNA, Clarke. Turned me into the child we would have had. They blinded me from who I was and then they made me-" Aerrow cut himself off before he totally lost it.

As he spoke, Clarke had progressively been filled with more and more horror and sadness at what he had been through. No one deserved that, to be physically turned into someone else, and then forced to fight against their friends. No wonder he was distraught as he was.

Bellamy had heard the entire thing, and was equally as shocked. "Aerrow I'm sorry…" he began, "I can't imagine…"

"Just be glad it wasn't you." Aerrow said suddenly, looking directly at him.

Bellamy frowned, confused at what he was getting at. He assumed Aerrow simply meant not being in the same position, but there was something in his gaze that told him there was something else… something more…

"I wasn't even meant to exist." Aerrow told him, deadpan. "My parents had another child before me, but the genetic binding wasn't right, so the child was adopted into another family. Your family."

It took Bellamy a second to understand what Aerrow was saying, but when he did, the realisation hit him like a tonne of bricks. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "You mean we're…" he breathed.

Aerrow nodded at him, eyes firmly fixed on his. "Brothers." He said simply.

Bellamy was forced to turn away and pinch the bridge of his nose. His mind screamed at him that it shouldn't have been possible. No, _It wasn't possible._ But his blood transfusion had been successful. His blood had been compatible with Aerrow's, something Abby said wouldn't work, unless he had the exact same blood type, which could only happen if they were directly related.

He also felt a distinct and very heavy sadness, because it meant Octavia wasn't really his sister. The person he cared about more than anything else in the world wasn't even related to him as it turned out. He didn't know how he was going to deal with that. He suddenly felt Aerrow's hand on his shoulder. "Hey," he said quietly, "Octavia will always be your sister."

"Did someone say my name?" Octavia asked as she walked up, totally oblivious to what had just been revealed. She walked around Bellamy, and froze instantly when she saw Aerrow, alive.

"It's me, Octavia." Aerrow said quickly, instantly locking eyes with her. But unlike the last time, they weren't filled with blank anger. They were soft, kind. _Soulful._ Like they used to be. Octavia instantly sensed something was different. It really was him. Somehow, he had returned.

"How did you escape?" Octavia asked, still in shock.

"The Reaper tunnels." Aerrow told her. "I woke up and saw the countdown. Knew I needed to get out of there as fast as possible, and the tunnels were the closest escape."

Octavia could only stare at him, completely unsure of what to feel. Aerrow seemed to notice this and walked away from Clarke and Bellamy slightly, over in front of her. He placed his hand gently on her shoulder and smiled faintly at her. "You beat me." He told her simply, yet with a faint trace of cheerfulness in his voice.

Octavia looked down at the ground briefly, then back up at him and nodded slightly. "I needed to save my friends."

Aerrow nodded slightly at her in understanding, but also respect. The corner of his mouth curled into a smile as Clarke and Bellamy joined them. "What happens now?" Bellamy asked cautiously.

Aerrow looked at him sadly. "I can't stay." He said quietly but evenly. "Not after what I did to them. They'll never see me the same way again."

Clarke touched Aerrow on the elbow. "You won't be alone this time." She said, "I'm going to go with you."

Aerrow turned his head to look at her, surprised by what she had just said. "Clarke?" he questioned.

She simply returned the look and replied, "We've both done things, things there's no forgiveness for. Neither of us needs to stay behind."

Bellamy closed his eyes and winced internally. First Clarke, now Aerrow too. All his friends were just going to… leave. Vanish. He wished he could convince them to stay, or that he could understand their reason for leaving. But he was unable to do either.

"Where are you going to go?" he asked, trying to contain his emotions.

Aerrow kept his eyes fixed on Bellamy's, his expression even. "I don't know." He said simply.

Bellamy just stood there, desperately trying to come up with something, anything to say to make his friends stay. But he couldn't. Clarke embraced him and whispered "May we meet again." In his ear, as the two of them said their silent goodbyes.

Meanwhile, Aerrow faced Octavia once more. She stared back at him with sadness in her eyes. She was disheartened that he wasn't going to stay, but at the same time she wasn't going to say anything to try and convince him to stay. "You were right." He said suddenly.

Octavia frowned slightly. "About what."

Aerrow smiled warmly at her. "I was wrong about you. You are a warrior, Octavia. You proved that today."

Octavia and Aerrow embraced gently, sharing one final moment in each other's company. Aerrow kissed the top of her forehead softly and whispered. "Thank you."

As they separated, Cleo suddenly scurried up from behind Octavia and quickly climbed up Aerrow's body, re-taking her customary position on his shoulder for the first time in over a week. Aerrow grinned at the sight of his faithful companion.

"I think I should give you these back." Octavia said suddenly, pulling his swords out from behind her back. Aerrow smiled and shook his head. "Keep them." He said simply, "You're far more worthy of wielding them than I."

Octavia smiled at his gesture, but was unable to hide the sadness on her face. He had been a genuine friend to her, and she wished more than anything that he would stay around and guide her, teach her to become better, stay by her side as her friend. But that wasn't going to happen.

"Goodbye, Octavia." Aerrow said quietly, his eyes lingering on hers for one final moment, before he turned away and joined Clarke and together, the two of them began walking back the way they had come, away from the camp, leaving behind them the pain, the sorrow and the grief. But also their friends.

Bellamy and Octavia could only watch as the two walked away and eventually, disappeared from sight.

Neither of them looked back.

…

They hadn't walked very far at all when a figure suddenly appeared from the trees in front of them, stopping them dead in their tracks. It was someone Aerrow hadn't seen in a very long time, someone he thought must have been killed: Alexis.

He froze instantly at the sight of her. She was just standing there in front of them, totally calmly. He noticed that she did not need to wear a protective body suit. She wasn't affected by radiation. But then his eyes travelled to the samurai sword held in her hand, and he subconsciously moved in front of Clarke a little.

"We meet again, Aerrow." She said smoothly, "It's been too long."

"Who is she?" Clarke whispered, totally confused at the appearance of this woman.

Upon hearing Clarke's confusion, Alexis grinned slyly. "Why don't you tell her Aerrow, of that night we spent together?"

Clarke's eyes widened at her words. When had this happened? How had Aerrow come to meet this woman? She flicked her eyes to him, trying to read his emotions. His face had hardened instantly, and his eyes had become dark and unyielding.

"So, Aerrow, tell me." Alexis said to him, voice directed in such a way to deliberately hit a nerve inside him, "Who do you really love?"

Aerrow said nothing. Instead, glaring at her, he began striding slowly towards her. His face was not one of affection. He did not stop until he was directly in front of her, only inches away from hers. "Alexis. Leave, now." He growled slowly.

Alexis simply eyed him slyly and whispered back "Make me."

Aerrow stood there, frozen, glaring at her. At then she swung her sword at him.

Instinctively, Aerrow leant back, barely avoiding the swing, but then Alexis attacked him again.

Aerrow was taken by surprise, and had no weapon to defend himself with. When he had first met her, she would have struck him down with ease by now, but Aerrow was not the same person he was then. He was stronger. He was better.

With his heightened abilities, he evaded Alexis's attacks with comparative ease, and then when she swung her sword horizontally at him, he simply grabbed her sword hand, and forcefully threw her away, yanking the sword from her grip in the process.

Alexis pushed herself up off the ground, and found herself staring into the tip of her own sword, held poised in front of her by Aerrow.

"Do it then. Kill me!" she hissed. "Prove what we both knew all along about you: you are a killer."

Aerrow held the sword where it was for a moment, before quickly and forcefully stabbing it into the ground beside her. Alexis glanced at the sword, stuck in the Earth, and her eyes widened slightly. But then her sly smile returned. "So you do love me after all?" she said smugly.

Aerrow glanced back at Clarke, before turning back and fiercely looking Alexis directly in the eye. "If I truly loved you, I would have killed you. It's what you taught me to do." He said quietly. Aerrow turned his head and looked at Clarke as he said. "But she taught me I could be better than that, that I could be something more than the monster I was."

Clarke could not help but smile at his words. He indeed was not that cold blooded killer anymore. He had become something more, something better. Because of her.

Aerrow again looked at the woman lying at his feet. He saw something change in her. She was suddenly overcome with a deep sadness. Her people were dead, she was all alone, and now she had failed in her mission to train him. Suddenly, her life had become meaningless. She had never experienced such emotions in her life, and she had no idea how to react to them.

Aerrow crouched down in front of her. "Live your life, Alexis." He told her gently, "The life you deserved to have."

Without another word, Aerrow got back up and walked back over to Clarke. Without saying a word, he kissed her gently, and held her in his arms, ever thankful for her presence in his life.

He separated from her and turned back to look at Alexis. She wasn't there. The sword was still in the ground, but the mysterious silver eyed woman had vanished.

Aerrow stood there for a long time, staring at the place she had been only moments ago, thinking about everything that had just taken place.

Clarke came up beside him and asked. "So what now? Where do we go?"

Aerrow turned and smiled at her. "I don't know." He shrugged happily, "But I have an idea."

Then he took her hand and together, with Cleo following close behind, the two of them walked off into the distance.

**Note: this is NOT the final chapter. I am working on that at the moment and hopefully it'll be up really soon.**


	38. Chapter 38

THREE MONTHS LATER

_Aerrow Eroxin opened his eyes as the first rays of the morning sunlight pulled him from his sleep._

_He got dressed and walked out of his room, ready to start a new day. He paused just outside the door, taking a moment to survey what his life had become. All around him was the hustling and bustling world of Camp Jaha._

_He ran laps around the perimeter of the camp with Raven, whose leg had now fully healed._

_He went hunting for food with the other ex-delinquents, all of whom had now been cleared of their crimes._

_He helped Bellamy train the guards in how to fight on the ground, working side by side with his brother._

_He sparred with Octavia, trading blows with the ever improving warrior in furious intensity._

_And, finally, he saw Clarke. Beautiful Clarke. He walked over and kissed her softly, savouring her gentle touch._

_He put his arm around her and stared out at the world around him._

_Life was perfect._

…

Aerrow's eyes cracked open slowly as he awoke from his dream. He stared up at the ceiling, looking at the golden rays of sunlight that filtered through the cracks of the derelict room. He looked at Clarke, lying next to him, still sleeping peacefully. He leant over and kissed her cheek, before pushing himself off the bed and leaving the room.

Stepping out of the old house they now called their own, Aerrow stood still and took in his surroundings.

The sun shone brightly as it rose over the horizon. The trees rustled in the breeze behind him. Birds chirped overhead as they flew around, embracing the new day. Ahead of him, waves crashed against the jumbled rocks of the shore line.

He took a deep breath in, savouring the salty air of the coast.

Barefoot and bare chested, he began walking along the rocky shore, for no reason other than he could. This was his new life now. Cleo scrambled along by his side, her forked tongue flicking the air as she explored a new environment.

He had only walked a few hundred metres when he saw it sticking out from between the rocks: the end of a yellow and red tube. He narrowed his eyes in curiosity. Something about it seemed familiar.

He walked over and yanked the tube from the rocks. He held it in his hands and studied it carefully. It was about a metre long and covered in flags of nations. He spied some writing on the end of it.

It read: '_May we meet again, 2206'._

Aerrow stared at the writing for a long time. Now he recognised the tube. It was a time capsule. Sent down to Earth from the Ark.

He twisted the ends of the tube, and it split in half. Pouring out of it came dozens and dozens of pieces of paper, written on by members of the Ark ten years ago. The chancellor had thought it would be a good idea for people to write letters to their future selves, and send the letters down to the ground in the time capsule, in hopes of one day returning to Earth.

One piece of paper in particular caught his eye. It was smaller than the others, and a deep shade of purple. Slowly, and with great reverence, Aerrow bent down and picked up the paper. He held it in front of him and read what had been written on it, by his own hand ten years previously.

'_Dear future Aerrow,_

_I am yet to know you. I don't know what you will become or how you will get there, but I can only hope that you are the best that I can possibly make you. I hope that you will possess more knowledge than I could ever impart upon you now, that the things that you will have accomplished shall cast a great shadow over what I have achieved in my comparatively short time in this life. I wish more than anything that one day you get to experience life on the ground but I hope that you never forget where you have come from._

_I hope that wherever you go, your passion for life will always be a part of your soul. Through the good times and the bad, you've never given up that fiery passion that keeps you wanting to push back against barriers until they shatter. You can look back at every action you performed in your life, whatever they may be, and know that you did them for all the right reasons._

_I hope that you have never forgotten to experience life to its fullest. The time will come where you will no longer be able to do the things that I can, and so I implore you to have lived knowing that you took full advantage of each stage of life. I hope you have forgotten what others expect of you, and pursued your dreams to the best of what you expect from yourself, and that you have the self-respect to know that you can always be better._

_I hope that the goals that I have set for you have been fulfilled: that your time spent working towards them was successful, but also that you enjoyed everything else that life has to offer, for there is no gift more beautiful, more precious._

_Most of all though, I hope that you can look back and be proud of me: of the person I am now, of who I was, and who I have helped you become. I hope that I am living my life in a manner that you think fondly of in years far from now. I hope that you took the time to care, the time to love, and the time to live._

_And if one day you look in the mirror and find the man who stares back at you is barely recognisable as the boy who writes this letter, it is because he is more than this boy could have ever dreamt possible._

_Aim high, dig deep, and remember that there is so much more to you than you can ever imagine._

_Regards,_

_Aerrow.'_

Aerrow stared at the writing long and hard. He felt his eyes moisten slightly and his breathing become shallower. He had written that when he was eight years old. It seemed like an entire lifetime ago, up there on the Ark, where nothing else mattered to him apart from enjoying his childhood. Back then, as a young, naïve child, he could not have possibly imagined what would eventually happen to him, yet his childhood words somehow rang truer than ever because of it.

Everything he had done, everything that had happened to him, had led him right to this moment. Standing on this shoreline, watching this sunrise, reading this piece of paper. It could not have been a coincidence. It was something so much more than that. It was destiny.

He had suffered more pain, agony, and tragic loss than any one person should ever have had to go through. He had seen every person he held dear killed in front of him. His body had been mutilated and his spirit broken. He had killed dozens of people, spilt so much innocent blood, and finally, he had been captured by the organisation who he owed his very existence to, and then fused with the person he loved – the person he was _meant_ to love – and turned into the person he was destined to create.

And yet, somehow, he had come out the other side, still alive, still intact.

He thought about everything that had happened to him since that fateful night on the Ark, over two years ago, all the people he had met, all the friends he had made. Bellamy, Octavia, Raven, Sai. All of them had been so important to his development, his life. They had shaped him into the warrior, and the person that he was now.

He was snapped out of his reverie by the scratching of Cleo's claws as his faithful Monitor Lizard climbed up the bare skin on his back and rested herself around his shoulders.

A moment later, he felt Clarke's presence by his side. She silently wrapped her arm around his waist and leant in close to him, nestling her head against the crook of his neck. Aerrow in turn let his chin rest on top of her head as he placed his arm around her and held her close, slowly stroking her shoulder.

He was overcome by a surreal sense of closure. Here he was, finally free of the tyranny of battle, war and death. No longer did he have to hide himself away, in fear of himself and what others thought of him. He had his closest friend in Cleo, and the girl he loved right beside him. He was Aerrow Eroxin… Switchblade… Subject X… the last of the Qinta warriors. But strangely, he didn't care about any of those names. None of them mattered anymore. He was finally free.

Holding Clarke in his arms with Cleo on his shoulder, he stared out across the waves at the rising sun, off into oblivion.

He smiled.

THE END

**Well, that's it. The End. Not just for this story, but for the story of Aerrow as well. The strain over the past year that I have felt, trying to make this story so much better than Closer To The Edge was, has simply worn me out as a writer, and towards the end of this story I was really struggling to write the chapters, just because I was so burnt out of ideas. **

**Nonetheless, this has been such a fun experience, writing stories of this magnitude, and I definitely feel as though I have improved massively as a writer over the past 18 months or so, and I hope that showed in this story.**

**If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading my work, and I really hope you liked it, because – difficult though it may have been at times – I sure did love writing it.**

**Thank you.**

**Gioia99**


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